Can we be Good without believing in God?
Can human beings be good without leaning on a god or dogma? Can we be moral without being religious? The answer to these questions is an unequivocal “Yes”. Human beings indeed do not need
Can we be Good without believing in God?
Can human beings be good without leaning on a god or dogma? Can we be moral without being religious? The answer to these questions is an unequivocal “Yes”. Human beings indeed do not need to believe in a deity or to belong to any religion in order to be good or to do good. The whole idea of the good-of doing good-preceded the idea of a god and religion. In fact the entity called god is alien to the equation of human goodness and morality.
We, humans, do not need to belong to any religion in order to have a sense of moral right or wrong. Moral rectitude is natural, and not predicated on supernatural faith. Morality is a product of social, not spiritual interaction. Unfortunately, the mistaken idea that humans cannot be good without professing a belief in the ‘supreme being’ or without belonging to a religion is one that is dominant in most societies across the world. This mistaken idea is largely responsible for lack of progress in those areas of human life where religions exercise moral authority.
Now how did we, humans, come about this erroneous notion that we cannot be good without believing in god? Human beings have the natural capacity to do good and evil. We are born with these inherent tendencies. They were not thrust on us from above or instilled in us as a result of whatever must have transpired in the mythical garden of Eden. We do not know about good and evil because Adam and Eve disobeyed god by eating the ‘Forbidden Fruit’.
The whole idea of doing good preceded the idea of a god. Before religions started, human beings were doing good. Human beings performed good deeds not to please god or to go to paradise as we are made to understand today. They did good for reasons unconnected with these religious injunctions. So I am deeply persuaded that humans came about the idea of god in their efforts to understand the good, explain what is good, what ought to be done and encourage what is good and doing good. Also humans came about the idea of the devil in their primitive attempts to understand what is evil, explain the problem of evil and why evil deeds exist and