Belief in God: An Introduction to the Moral Argument

Belief in God: An Introduction to the Moral Argument

By: Daniel McMillin

Morality demands a moral lawgiver. The moral argument for the existence of God entails the objectivity of morality as something that is not grounded within the minds of the individual; otherwise, morality would be subjective. Instead, morality is something that transcends the individual and is grounded in something, or more accurately, someone who maintains the stability of morality. I believe God is the best, and dare I say, only explanation for the foundation of morality. If morality is objective and absolute, God must exist. Morality is objective and absolute. Therefore, God must exist! As we enter into the function of this argument, we must look to the implications found within. From the very beginning, it must be stated that the majority does not determine what is true and what is false, nor do they have the power to determine what is moral or immoral. To illustrate this point of how morality cannot be determined by the majority, we think back to the 1900s during World War II. If we were to ask the majority of Americans, “Was it moral for the Nazis to torture and kill thousands of Jews?” They would answer, “of course not!” The things they did were an abomination; they are immoral, based upon the fact that mistreating another human being is, of course, unjust. Now, if we were to interview various Germans during that time, many of them would have answered the question and said “no.” They believed what they were doing was just. So who is correct? Because the majority of Americans would say “this is immoral,” and the majority of Germans would say “this is moral.” It is evident that we are stuck in a dilemma. Who is right, and who is wrong? Well, we have to realize that the majority’s opinion is not grounds for morality because our opinions, while they may be reasonable, are subjective. The only conclusion we can come to in order to say that what the Germans did was unjust is to claim that morality is objective. If we are to make such a bold claim as this, we must therefore argue that morality is transcendent; it is beyond us all; it transcends humans. We know that there are things that are objectively right and wrong; that is our reality, though some may argue otherwise. Because objective morality is our reality, there must be a standard. To imagine a reality without God is to picture a world without an ultimate standard for ethics. There is complete chaos and a lack of order because there is no justice nor rule of morality. Because there is a standard for morality that demands a transcendent Being that is the Lawgiver then there must be a God. Since God is the Law Giver, God exists.