Morality is the ability to discern between what is right and wrong. The question that always seems to follow is what is considered right and what is wrong?
Religious authorities and institutions have often been the moral compass for societies. But the strong relationship that seems to exist between morality and God has since been questioned by modern enlightenment thinkers. Groups such as the new atheists, secular humanists, consequentialists etc. have been prominent advocates of religion being unnecessary for the establishment of a rational, ethical, and moral society.
Many of these enlightenment groups will concede that perhaps in ancient society a religion was necessary to prevent it from breaking down into chaos, but with the enlightenment of the masses we are now free from the opioid of religion. They claim that we no longer need to be bound down by the false delusion of God. The prevalence of science, logic, and reason have allowed humans to enter a higher plane of thinking. Some people posit that by applying the scientific method to certain actions in life, we will be able to come to the most rational conclusion.
Furthermore, look around you and you’ll see many people you know that have no interest or have professed no belief in the existence of God, but are moral upright people. So yes, it is my belief that people can and do exist morally without a belief in God. Although it is a reality of society that many non-believers will live a moral life, they are simply detaching themselves from religious institutions and a profession of faith but acting on moral principles that were established by the religious institutions they may despise.
The most important moral issues in society i.e. murder, theft, and lying are established as the cornerstone of law via Christianity. A prevalent theme throughout Christianity is the individual’s responsibility to secure their salvation-the importance of individualism. In addition to this, the importance of the absolute moral statements such as “Thou shalt not kill”, “Thou shalt not steal”, and “Thou shalt not lie” have been the cornerstone of western governance. I concede that many non-Christian societies have had laws that also promote these values, but these values are much stronger absolutes and necessities in Christian based societies. Essentially, what the western world views as moral today can be heavily attributed to the philosophy of Christianity.
In addressing the case of why one can be moral without a belief in God, I would say that rather than evaluating the existence of morals according to what one says they believe, to me it is much more revealing to look at how people act. Many atheists despise the idea of God, institutional religion, and the bible, but act out a belief system heavily rooted in Judeo-Christian values.
In other words, you can take God out of the equation, but you are still living a moral life according to the fundamental presuppositions of Christianity. The western classical liberal tradition, the emphasis on the individual, the modern political system and many other facets of western life are predicated on beliefs and values that stemmed from the deep philosophical and theological values of the Christian faith.
Yes, you can be moral without any religion or professed belief in God, but I do believe that the axiomatic establishment of the ideas of good and evil was brought about by religion and can’t be done away with without any serious consequences. Thus, individual people in society have the capacity to not believe in God and live a moral life, but religion played the essential role of establishing the universality of the difference between good and evil.
Many good people exist that have no form of religious belief but let us not underestimate the positive influence and continuous role that Christianity has in establishing morality.