Reader’s View: No god needed to be good – Duluth News Tribune

Morality is a deep subject. Books with thousands upon thousands of words have been written, and still there is no concrete conclusion on what it necessarily means to be moral. One thing I think we can all agree on is that morality is dependent upon the well-being of humans; it comes in degrees of morality. Certainly there is no strict black and white to morality; there are more gray areas of varying amplitude instead.

Our well-being is the foundation to what we would consider a normative moral definition. Without human well-being as the starting point, what would it be worth calling it morality? If god is put first as the center for morality, then what happens to us is irrespective of humanity; we are simply fodder for something that hasn't been shown to exist, equivalent to the sacrifice of thousands of humans for heathen religions of old and in current religions: apostasy in Islam, death via failed pregnancy in Catholicism where abortions are a no-go, and murder of LGBTQ people in Christianity, as examples.

Atheists like me tend to center our morality on the well-being of humanity through humanism. Most theists (Christians, Catholics, Buddhists, etc.) also focus morality upon the well-being of humans. Given we both center our moral framework upon the well-being of our species, it would appear that you don't need a god to be good; one only needs empathy, compassion, and reflection upon actions to determine moral goods.

We all tend toward doing good for the benefit of our species. The next time you're questioning a decision as to whether it's a moral good, I'd suggest putting humans before a god.

Adin Briggs

Duluth

The writer is a life-long atheist and founder of Twin Ports Humanists.

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Reader's View: No god needed to be good - Duluth News Tribune