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THE MORAL ARGUMENT

1. The relationship between religion and morality is for many people taken for granted. However, the link, between the two is a complex one: are religion and morality linked and does morality therefore prove the existence of God or are they totally separated?

2. Are morality and religion linked?

   • The link between religion and morality depends on whether morality comes from God or humans. J.H. NEWMAN argued that moral laws had their origin in a personal lawgiver who imposes moral demands upon us; our experience of morality leads us to conclude the existence of a lawgiver, what he commands is good because God is the perfect form of the good, and all lesser standards of goodness and judged by reference to him.
     • How do humans discover God's moral law? Believers will look in the Scriptures to establish God's will- e.g. Ten Commandments, God's law given to his people many centuries ago, but still relevant and applicable today. These commandments are very general e.g. 'Do not murder' but can be applied to a range of modern dilemmas such as abortion and euthanasia. In the New Testament the teachings of Jesus, such as Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 7), offer more flexible guidelines, based on love.

3. AQUINAS

   • Aquinas claimed that the realities of which the human mind is aware are merely pale copies of a greater, unseen reality, which is eternal. The goodness, virtue or truth found in human beings is a reflection of the supreme or perfect goodness of God. God, being perfect in goodness, is also perfect in his very being or existence. His moral perfection and authority are evidence for his existence, and all lesser forms or reflections of goodness were striving towards the ultimate good and that is their cause.
   • Divine command Ethics has a long history. The Old Testament and the Qur'an are both full of teachings which consist of God asserting his moral law, and in the Gospels Jesus teaches in the form of moral commands- 'Love thy neighbor as yourself', 'Do not resist an evil doer', 'Blessed are those who hear the word of God and obey it'. The 'religions of the book' offer good reasons why God's commands should be recognised as authorative and why they should be obeyed. A.C. GRAYLING observes:'Sin is disobedience to the commands of god; virtue is obedience to them or, in the more graphic conception of Islam.

4. Does morality prove the existence of God?

   • In the Critique of Practical Reason, Kant argued that the existence of a morality and moral law depended on the existence of God
     • He maintained that everyone could understand moral law which was the highest form of good, and that humanity has a duty to seek the perfect state of affairs, which he called the Summon Bonum.
       • This duty is a categorical imperative. But, Kant ackowledged, the perfect state could not be achieved in this life, and so it needs God to bring it to fulfilment in an afterlife, so there could be no morality without God and religion.
         • Kant's argument is an a priori one since it is not humanity's experience of the world which points to the existence of God but, by reason, morality demands his existence. Moral behaviour would not be invalid if God did not exist, but Kant maintained that if the goal of morality was to be achieved, then it would need God to bring it about.