Things not to say to someone immediately before class
Friend: “So, in my bible study group we’ve been reading Mere Christianity. I was curious what you thought about his argument about objective morality since we all pretty much say the same thing.”
Me: “Ehrr..I haven’t read it since I was 14 and I have to go to Spanish. Can I get back to you on that one?”
So, I’ve thought about it. A lot. I mean, I think I remember Dawkins refuting it in the beginning of A God Delusion, but I can’t find my copy so I have no idea. But after about 3 days I think I’m finally ready to actually say something about it.
At first I really tried going through logical arguments. But in a lot of ways, that methodology doesn’t make sense, and since neither of us are going to convince the other to de/convert, I figured I would just think about how I actually felt.
Honestly, I don’t believe in this “objective morality”. It doesn’t really help that the first person I met who tried to convince me of this was a rapist and an abuser (and somehow, didn’t think that was wrong). I do feel, however, that there is a universal desire to do good. There is some calling, I suppose, which creates a desire for people to have a morality.
I do feel like there are these common themes that CS Lewis is describing such as an idea that stealing and murdering is wrong, but they are not applied equally to everyone. So many societies in history feel that while it is unnacceptable to murder or steal within their social groups, it is perfectly acceptable to do it outside of those groups.
Example: The idea that it is moral to kill a woman because she was raped (and thus unclean, or whatever).
While I feel that this would be considered unnacceptable if the victim of the rape was male, it is acceptable in these societies because the woman is of a different social group. (I know I learned about this crap in Psychology).
The reason why I don’t see this as proof of a god is because, frankly, all of these things fit very well into the theory of evolution. One of the very lucky traits that humans have is that of forming communities, and part of that community building is the tendency to need to 1. Keep piece within social groups and 2. Make quick judgments of things that supposedly tend to be right.
The second point makes a lot of sense with regards to the treatment of people who are of a different race, class, gender, creed, whatever, because if, say, you are a neanderthal and you see a tiger attacking another caveman, you would then assume that all tigers are evil and get the fuck away next time you see one.
On the other hand, cooperation is an incredibly valuable evolutionary trait. My favorite example is African hunting dogs, which don’t leave their wounded behind, but somehow manage to be some of the most efficient pack hunters out there.
And besides, if you just use Occam’s razor, jumping from “desire to do good” to “proof of god” raises all the more questions about god. Where did god get the desire to create people who had the desire to do good? Can my brain go explode now?
