Are Morals Given By God?

Is it wrong to cheat on your partner, kill a person or steal? If morals are not handed down by a just and moral law giver, then what objectivity can there be to say that it is absolutely wrong to do any of the things I just mentioned? Theists declare that without God, there is no absolute standard by which we are to behave toward one another, and without that standard morals are just subjective and that it is perfectly fine to cheat, kill and steal just so long as it does not impact upon your personal or cultural morals. But is this really the case? Without going into the evolutionary psychology of morals and how certain behaviours have become wired into human interaction based on reciprocal benefit, we can demonstrate that morals can, and do exist independent of an omnipotent law giver. And here is how: it is wrong to cheat, kill and steal because those actions impact negatively on the people they affect. Yes, that is subjective, but ultimately it makes no difference whether our morals are subjective or objective. The fact of the matter is our actions have an effect on people’s lives. They hurt people regardless of a divine creator. We know what it is like to be hurt, and so we generally try to avoid inflicting pain on others. Most of us want to live happy lives with each other and we feel bad when we hurt others, why is that? Because we know that we have done wrong. But by what standard have we done wrong that we should know it? Well I ask this, why does there have to be a standard? Again, our actions impact people’s lives whether there is a standard or not. If there is no standard that does not negate our personal responsibility.

To summarize, it is wrong to lie, cheat, kill, steal etc, because it hurts people. Why is it wrong to hurt people? Because we don’t want to be hurt.