Can You Be Good Without God?

Do you need God to be good? People around the world were asked that. The results varied by country. But three trends emerged – belief that God is needed for morality is (1) greater in the poor, (2) in the old, and (3) in the ill-educated. Two countries buck the trends. In relatively poor China, God is given short shrift as the seat of morality. In wealthy America we still cleave to the divine underpinning of goodness.

It isn’t a surprise. Chinese religion is grounded more in family, philosophy, and tradition than it is in a godhead. On the other hand, the US is an outlier in the industrial world for its religiosity. But even within the US, regional differences are stark. In the relatively religion-free North-East, God is not considered necessary for morality. Whereas, in the deeply religious South His role is viewed as critical.

Let’s take a run at the question ourselves. Is God, in fact, necessary for morality? As might be expected – and as polls confirm – the more religious a country, the more likely the population is to believe that is so. And those religious folk take a dim view of atheists. In their thinking, if you do not believe in God you have no reason to be good.

Superficially it may sound reasonable, but it is a specious argument. Built into most religions is the idea of forgiveness and atonement. Do what ever the hell you want – it doesn’t matter, God will forgive you. The Catholic Church is rooted in sin, confession and absolution. The Jews have Yom Kippur. And how many philandering pastors and politicians insist that it will all be good, as soon as they will make it right with the Lord.

Atheists, on the other hand, do not have a “get out of jail free” card. There is no easy salve for their consciences. And if the religious claim that non-believers have no conscience, they confuse atheists with sociopaths.

The religious hypothesis that God is needed for good is easily testable. And in the test, it fails. States with lower rates of church attendance generally have lower crime rates, lower rates of divorce, and lower rates of teenage pregnancy. They even have lower rates of obesity.

And prison populations are notably religious.

Religious people may like to think they occupy the moral high ground. They don’t. And not all atheists are angels. It is obvious that morality is not a gift from God but comes from within. The real question is whether morality is innate or learned  - or is it, as seems likely – a blend of the two?