Apologetics: Atheism Confuses Me – the Moral Argument

Atheism is one of those belief systems that absolutely baffles me on a fundamental level. This isn’t meant to slam any atheists reading this. It just truly baffles me how atheism is supposed to make sense. Just look up what the chances are that the universe could form, much less support life. Or look up what the chances are that in the estimated time that the universe formed, we somehow managed to get all the amino acids and proteins needed to make a simple cell that then proceeded to somehow evolve into more complex forms of life. Even the staunchest evolutionists agree that “impossible” doesn’t even begin to describe the chances of this happening.

However, we’re not talking about the Big Bang or evolution today. Today, we’re diving into the more philosophical arguments, particularly the moral argument. The claim from atheists is that morality is something that people just created. There’s no higher source of morality than that. It just was created by someone, agreed upon by…some group, and enforced. But does this belief work with reality or with atheistic beliefs? The answer is no.

The problem with this idea is that if morality was just created by someone and agreed upon by the group, then it is entirely subjective. It then becomes a battle for who’s truth or morality is better. For example, imagine that one tribe has a leader that says that murder is bad and if someone murders their neighbor, they’re to be punished to the fullest extent. Sounds good right? But now imagine that there’s a second tribe and its leader says that murder is a good thing and there will be no punishment for it.

What does that seem like? Does the second tribe seem better or worse than the first? If you responded, “It sounds better,” then how do you know that it is? If you believe that morality is subjective, then how is the first one better than the second one? Each group is just following the rules its leader selected and enforces, after all.

The second reason why atheism can’t adequately answer the question of morality is because if the theory of Darwinian evolution is real and everything is alive (or dead) because of the process of natural selection, then morality is actually counterintuitive. When taken to its logical conclusion, natural selection undermines the concept of morality because things like rape, murder, theft, torture, etc. could all be seen as ways of just making sure the strongest survive. For example, why have one monogamous marriage to raise kids when you could be running around impregnating multiple partners? Sure, a monogamous relationship provides benefits like dividing the workload, so the young are better protected, but it’s not as practical for spreading your DNA quickly.

The third reason atheism doesn’t work is because if morality is just subjective, then morality ultimately comes down to who has the bigger guns to enforce their vision. Just look at communist countries like the USSR, who were atheist. They had their own form of morality enforced by the government and if anyone spoke up against it, they could expect to be imprisoned or executed. In fact, nearly 61 million people were murdered by the USSR alone. This view of a subjective, man-made morality allows for despots and tyrants to take over and enforce their idea of morality as long as they have the power to do so.

The final reason why atheism can’t answer the morality question is because it can’t answer why humans have a deeply engrained sense of right and wrong. Even amongst tribes that are more remote, there is an understanding on some level that things like murder and rape are bad, though that understanding may be corrupted to a degree. We know that these things are wrong because we also have a sense that human lives are precious. Just look at how many laws are out there to protect people, such as traffic laws. It might be quicker and more efficient to go speeding down the highway at a hundred miles an hour, but it’s not as safe. You could easily lose control of the car and crash, ending your life. You could hit someone and kill them as well as yourself. If we didn’t have this sense of the inherent value of human life, we wouldn’t be trying to protect it.

Because of this, atheism can’t answer the question of morality without bringing up some very disturbing questions about what happens when man creates morality. It can’t answer why any crime is bad because according to it, humans are just an advanced animal.

Until next time,

M.J.