[Chancellor]

Quote by: ShOuLdEr This morning my ethics professor told me bluntly during a debate in class that there can be no ethics without "God" and that any logical athiest/agnostic cannot argue against this.

Well, that depends on what your professor means by "without God."

I am agnostic and this offended me and I am going to write an argument against this.

And I am offended by agnostics, so what? I think you people need to make up your minds. Agree and commit, disagree and commit or just get out of the way! :)

Before I do so i was hoping to hear the thoughts of everyone on this forum, in the past when i've had questions i've been lead to some ideas and insights that I myself would not have considered. I believe ethics can be based soley on social standards and laws I found this on Ethics Without Gods

First, one needs to define "ethics." I consider it synonymous with "morality."

One of the first questions Atheists are asked by true believers and doubters alike is, “If you don’t believe in God, there’s nothing to prevent you from committing crimes, is there? Without the fear of hell-fire and eternal damnation, you can do anything you like, can’t you?” this is pretty much what my professor told me.

I offer you the following from the New Testament:

"Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!" - Matthew 7:9-11 -

Let me give you my take on this. Although humans are born evil, born with a sinful nature, born committing rebellion and treason against God, they are still capable of doing "good" things (though the "good" is a much lower standard of "good" than God's perfect standard of "good," hence the statements in the Bible indicating there is no human that is "good"). This capacity to do "good" stems from an inherent knowledge of right and wrong (the conscience) that seems almost instinctual - though if you examine it closely you'd see that it's very much based in self-interest. We say it's wrong to murder because we don't want to be murdered (at least normal humans don't want to be murdered). We say it's wrong to steal because we don't want others stealing from us. Of course, because humans are evil by nature, they often try to come up with excuses for violating this inherent knowledge of right and wrong. Sadly, the result is today's silly notion of moral relativity - "Just because it's right for you doesn't mean it's right for me; just because it's wrong for you doesn't mean it's wrong for me." It is this moral relativity that eventually eliminates any objective basis for law or for being ethical - it has nothing to do with atheism or the existence or non-existence of God.