The BIG JUDGE or the everyday judge?

The Science of Good and Evil: Why People Cheat, Gossip, Care, Share, and Follow the Golden Rule

From The Science of Good and Evil:

Humans are, by nature, moral and immoral, good and evil, altruistic and selfish, cooperative and competitive, peaceful and bellicose, virtuous and nonvirtuous…All people have the potential for all moral traits. Most people most of the time in most circumstances are good and do the right thing for themselves and others. But some people in some circumstances some of the time are bad and do the wrong thing for themselves and others. Religion was the first social institution to canonize moral principles, but morality need not be the exclusive domain of religion (pg 20).

What keeps people moral? Is it God and/or religion? I know some people who think so. They think that without God the world would fall into corrupt moral decay and some of them think they are witnessing that now (so where is God, I ask?). This is why so many people equate atheist with evil and immoral - to them without god means without good.

As Stephen Roberts says: “I contend that we are both atheists. I just believe in one fewer god than you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours.”

Morality is a learned social behavior. Moral traits evolved as a form of social control to ensure the survival of individuals within groups and the survival of human groups themselves.

Do I need a Big Judge in the sky to keep me from doing wrong? No, I have many judges in my life, although judge with a small j, that I look to and learn from. These include family and friends, colleagues and peers, mentors and teachers, and society at large. We are all trying to live and love and learn to temper our temptations and do the right thing. I think we have the same success rate as those who think it cannot be done without a capital J Judge.

I love this quote by Michael Shermer:

I stand before my maker and judge not in some distant and future ethereal world, but in the reality of this world, a world inhabited not by spiritual and supernatural ephemera, but by real people whose lives are directly affected by my actions, and whose actions directly affect my life (pg 22).

How did religion and God get involved in morality? According to Michael:

When bands and tribes gave way to chiefdoms and states, religion developed as the principal social institution to facilitate cooperation and goodwill. It did so by encouraging altruism and selflessness, discouraging excessive greed and selfishness, promoting cooperation over competition, and revealing the level of commitment to the group through social events and religious rituals.

Much as people people groups evolved so did their picture of God - from animistic spirits to anthropomorphic and polytheistic gods to the monotheistic God of Abraham. In addition to serving as the explanation for creation God also became the ultimate enforcer of the rules. God, religion and morality became inseparable.

The God DelusionAnd a quote from Richard Dawkins author of a new book called The God Delusion from the article entitled The New Naysayers:

“If there is no God, why be good?” he asks rhetorically, and responds: “Do you really mean the only reason you try to be good is to gain God’s approval and reward? That’s not morality, that’s just sucking up.”


So why do people believe in God? Says Michael Shermer: People believe in God because we are pattern-seeking, storytelling, mythmaking, religious, moral animals.


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