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Atheism And Morality

"a nothing would serve just as well as a something about which nothing could be said." --Ludwig Wittgenstein, Philosophical Investigations , section 304 One of the common arguments against atheism is that it offers no ground for morality. Atheism is equated with moral relativism and nihilism, with the idea that nothing is ultimately good or bad, and so there can be no reason to choose one action over another. This, it is said, undermines the very fabric of civilization. I shall argue that this is not only false, but backwards. If there can be any ground for moral decisions, it certainly is not theism. Theism fails to offer a knowable ground for moral wisdom. (Note: This is not to say that religions have no moral wisdom to offer. If a religious institution has moral wisdom to offer, it does so in spite of and in contradiction with its theistic foundations.) Theism may here be defined as any belief in a supernatural agent; that is, any belief which regards natural entit