Sunday Sermon: Where Does Morality Come From?

It is a common Christian argument that, if their deity does not exist, then there can be no morality. They argue that without an objective deity to give objective morality, then all of morality is just a collection of human opinions, and no one opinion is better than any other. I will go so far as to grant that this is a common argument for good reason, as it is a difficult argument to refute, as it is very difficult (if not impossible) to explain exactly when, where, and why a concept of morality and ethics first emerged. However, while we may not know the specifics of the origins of moral and ethical thinking, it can be proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that morality cannot be explained if Yhwh exists.

1. The Bible Cannot Make Sense of Morality

Allow me to start with what I hope will be an obvious claim: Rape is obviously, unequivocally wrong. There is no debate that rape is a heinous crime. If anyone were to come up to you and say "Rape is totally ok" you would probably steel yourself for the punchline of some tasteless attempt at a joke, or else just stare at them in wide-eyed disbelief.

However, the preceding claim absolutely cannot be true Yhwh exists. To prove this, allow me to quote a few passages from the Bible itself:

“When a man sells his daughter as a slave, she will not be freed at the end of six years as the men are. If she does not satisfy her owner, he must allow her to be bought back again. But he is not allowed to sell her to foreigners, since he is the one who broke the contract with her. But if the slave’s owner arranges for her to marry his son, he may no longer treat her as a slave but as a daughter.
“If a man who has married a slave wife takes another wife for himself, he must not neglect the rights of the first wife to food, clothing, and sexual intimacy. If he fails in any of these three obligations, she may leave as a free woman without making any payment." ~ Exodus 21:7-11

If you check the context, you will realize that this passage purports to be the direct word of Yhwh. It is the Bible allegedly quoting Yhwh. That said there are several problems with this passage:

1. It teaches that slavery (even selling your own daughter into slavery) is morally acceptable. That all by itself is problematic, as virtually the entire first world holds that slavery is abhorrent and human trafficking is a horrendous crime. Where does that belief come from if Yhwh is the only source of all morality, and he says that slavery is fine, so long as you treat slaves in accordance with his rules?
2. It reinforces the Bible's claim that women are property. I think that I've sufficiently exhausted that topic in my previous post "The Paradox of the Womon Christian", so I won't delve into it further here.
3. It clearly states that if a man marries his slave, and does not have sex with her, she goes free. So it comes down to a man either having sex with his slave or freeing her and losing his property. If a man is willing to literally own a woman, I don't think it too much of a leap to say that he doesn't much care if the sex is consensual or not. She is his property after all, to be used as he sees fit.

The people felt sorry for Benjamin because the Lord had made this gap among the tribes of Israel. So the elders of the assembly asked, “How can we find wives for the few who remain, since the women of the tribe of Benjamin are dead?... we cannot give them our own daughters in marriage because we have sworn with a solemn oath that anyone who does this will fall under God’s curse.”
 Then they thought of the annual festival of the Lord held in Shiloh... They told the men of Benjamin who still needed wives, “Go and hide in the vineyards. When you see the young women of Shiloh come out for their dances, rush out from the vineyards, and each of you can take one of them home to the land of Benjamin to be your wife… So the men of Benjamin did as they were told. Each man caught one of the women as she danced in the celebration and carried her off to be his wife. They returned to their own land, and they rebuilt their towns and lived in them. ~ Judges 21:15-23

This passage is fairly straightforward. The elders of Israel tell the remnants of the tribe of Benjamin to rush into a festival to Yhwh, take whatever woman they want, and sleep with them. It's fairly obvious that these women were kidnapped and subsequently raped; yet Yhwh has not so much as a stern word to say for abducting and raping these women.

...Moses was furious with all the generals and captains who had returned from the battle. “Why have you let all the women live?” he demanded. “These are the very ones who followed Balaam’s advice and caused the people of Israel to rebel against the Lord at Mount Peor. They are the ones who caused the plague to strike the Lord’s people. So kill all the boys and all the women who have had intercourse with a man. Only the young girls who are virgins may live; you may keep them for yourselves. ~ Numbers 31:14-18

Moses himself tells his soldiers that they may keep the virgin prisoners of war for themselves. That is called "human trafficking". It is called "sex slavery". It is rightfully called "rape". Not only does Yhwh not condemn this, but he actually demands 32 of the virgins for himself! Not only does Yhwh not condemn human trafficking and sex slavery, he participates in it!

In fact, in the 1970's, through the early 90's when there was a big push in the U.S. to criminalize marital rape (the rape of one spouse by the other spouse), the criminalization of marital rape was fought tooth and nail by conservative Christians who quoted from 1 Corinthians 7:3-5 to argue that wives had a "conjugal duty" to their husbands, and therefore had no right to refuse sex to their husbands.

"A husband should satisfy his wife’s needs. And a wife should satisfy her husband’s needs. The wife’s body does not belong only to her. It also belongs to her husband. In the same way, the husband’s body does not belong only to him. It also belongs to his wife..."

There you have it, plain as day. The wife does not have the right to say "no" to her husband because it's not her body, and therefore not her call. In the same way a husband can't say "no" to his wife because it's not his body! Clearly it can't be rape if there's no right to say "no", right? It's amazing how one of the only times the Bible says anything that could possibly be construed as "equal treatment of men and women" it's to establish that marital rape is cool because neither party has any right to say "no".

[As an aside: Unfortunately, Christianity got a partial victory in the case of marital rape in the U.S. While it is illegal in all 50 states, it is only treated the same as other types of rape in 17 states and D.C. In the other 33 states, marital rape is usually treated as "spousal abuse" or "battery", which carries a lighter sentence.]

I could go on quoting additional verses, but I hope I've made my point. Nowhere in the Bible is rape ever condemned, and in several places it is clearly praised. The closest that the Bible ever comes to saying that rape is wrong is in Deuteronomy 22:25-29. In that passage Yhwh commands that a man who rapes an engaged woman should be put to death for infringing on another man's property rights, and goes on to say that, if a man rapes a woman who is not engaged, then standard "you break it, you buy it" rules apply. That is the closest the Bible ever comes to saying "rape is wrong".

Bearing this in mind, let me pose the following question: Where does morality come from, if Yhwh exists? Where do we get our ideas that kidnapping, human trafficking, rape, slavery, and so on are all criminal acts, if Yhwh is the source of all morality and he says they're ok? Clearly, if Yhwh is the only source of all morality, then rape is fine just as long as your victim isn't married! For that matter, your victim can be married just as long as you ransacked her village and carried her off as a prisoner of war/sex slave! Since this is not a conclusion that anyone is willing to accept (at least I hope it's not), we must accept that morality can and does exist outside of Yhwh, and Yhwh cannot be the source of our morality.


2. So Where Does Morality Come From?

The question still remains though: Where does morality come from? If you will permit me, I will take the remainder of this post to briefly propose the source of morality. In so doing, I will begin by quoting David Hume's response (put into the mouth of a supposed friend) to the claim that atheism destroys all morality and is therefore detrimental to society:

"…[W]hat do you find in this whole question, wherein the security of good morals, or the peace and order of society is in the least concerned?
"I deny a providence, you say, and supreme governor of the world, who guides the course of events, and punishes the vicious with infamy and disappointment, and rewards the virtuous with honour and success, in all their undertakings. But surely, I deny not the course itself of events, which lies open to every one's enquiry and examination. I acknowledge, that, in the present order of things, virtue is attended with more peace of mind than vice, and meets with a more favourable reception from the world. I am sensible, that, according to the past experience of mankind, friendship is the chief joy of human life, and moderation the only source of tranquility and happiness. I never balance between the virtuous and the vicious course of life; but am sensible, that, to a well-disposed mind, every advantage is on the side of the former. And what can you say more, allowing all your suppositions and reasonings? You tell me, indeed, that this disposition of things proceeds from intelligence and design. But whatever it proceeds from, the disposition itself, on which depends our happiness or misery, and consequently our conduct and deportment in life, is still the same. It is still open for me, as well as you, to regulate my behavior, by my experience of past events." ~ "An Enquiry concerning Human Understanding" pp. 140-141

In brief: Our own experiences, and the experiences of our ancestors, are enough to show us that the peace of mind associated with an honest life is better than constantly worrying about being caught in a lie. Experience is enough to show us that a world in which people work together and protect one another, is better than a world in which people live in constant fear of being killed. Experience is enough to show us that a world in which people are generally allowed to do as they wish insofar as they do not harm one another and treat one another fairly, is better than living under a dictatorship the likes of North Korea. Morality can be, and has been established by thousands of years of trial and error. Throughout the millennia, humans have done everything in their power to improve their quality of life on this rock that is Barely Suitable For Life, partly by instituting codes of behavior and social customs. Sometimes people do well when instituting these moral rules, and sometimes their experiences (or lack thereof) lead them to make poor choices in moral matters, but we tend to be consistently improving and striving to fix the failures of our ancestors.

Denying that a deity established and enforces moral principles in no way diminishes the moral principles that our experiences, and those of our ancestors, have established. Quite the opposite in fact. Experience as the source of morality is the only way to make sense of moral progress. It is the only way to make sense of the fact that the Bible says that slavery is bad, but now we know better; that the Bible says that rape is ok, but now we know it's not; and so on and so forth. None of this can be explained if Yhwh is the source of an eternal and unchanging morality. As such, while it may be difficult to explain exactly where our sense of morality comes from, it can be proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that Yhwh is clearly not the source of our morality.

This has been your Sunday Sermon, go without god.