Jim asked:

Does the existence or non-existence of a god have an effect on our morality? That is, if today god
exists, and I do wrong, and bad, and then tomorrow god does not exist, and I do wrong, and bad...do
the actions of today become morewrong/ right with god existing; and do the actions of tomorrow
become less wrong/ right with god not existing?

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The law has an answer. As the Romans said "nulla poene sine lege" — if it is not forbidden by law it
cannot justifiably be punished. And it should not either, because then the world would be a world of
arbitrariness and despotism. But there's another principle stating that "Ignorance of the law does not
prevent punishment (if you have violated the law)".

The very core of your question is: What do you mean by "doing wrong"? Are you acting against
written law — then see above. Are you acting against your conscience, then the existence of God is
irrelevant here, because your conscience is yours, you must come to terms with it. If you are
bleeding, then stop it, but don't ask if God is looking on. That's simple. But if it really matters if God
exists or doesn't for to do what you think is right, then you have a bad character and are trapped in a
false logic.

What the better among the theologians mean (there are bigots too) is not that you should act out of
fear and trembling, but that you should act out of love and a sense of honour as one of God's children
— if ever God means anything to you. Then some ways of acting, that are not forbidden by law or
custom may be forbidden by love and honour with respect to God or to the very fact of being a
thinking human and not a dumb animal — and not a coward.

Hubertus Fremerey

It should first be noted that Jim did not ask the traditional question, "Does God's command or
prohibition make an action right or wrong, or is its being right or wrong the reason for God's command
or prohibition?" I'm not sure what Jim means by "today god exists . . . and then tomorrow god does
not exist", but I do know what it means for someone to affirm God's existence and deny it the next. If
one believes, for example, that adultery is wrong, he will probably still think it's wrong whether he
went from theism to atheism or from atheism to theism. The answer to Jim's question depends how
reflective a given person chooses to be. Any worldview, theistic or atheistic, will ultimately have
implications for how we think about morality, and vice versa. Our particular moral judgments may
survive our conversion from one worldview to another; they may even be the motivating reason for
converting. Many people seem more tenacious about their moral judgments (e.g., for or against
capital punishment, for or against abortion) than about the set of consciously held judgments that is
their worldview. The more reflective among them will therefore be vitally interested in ascertaining
how well any proposed worldview supports their moral intuitions. But the latter tend to survive
whether or not a suitable worldview home is found for them.

Tony Flood

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