The Roses: Falling in “Like” with Humanity
How do we behave? Humanism "wins" every time
Morality #1: Do that which pleases God.
Morality #2: Do that which results in human flourishing.
Paulogia, a YouTube humanist I follow, has a Venn diagram with one circle labeled as “Biblical Morality” and the other circle is “maximizing well-being.” There’s an overlap in the middle. In my opinion, “maximizing well-being” is is the entirety of all morality and the other parts are just … whatever God needs to keep him happy.
I’m going to try to explain the difference.
What is morality?
You may have heard that God is mighty and all-powerful and we must put away our doubts and submit our will to him. A lot of people consciously or unconsciously still think that is what morality consists of…and something, something sex.
In spite of that, through the centuries humans have told God to get over himself on certain issues such as slavery, burning witches, hanging heretics, and that sort of thing. If the Bible is the foundation of all morality, then why would we even think about defying God? Especially when an eternity of hell is on the line?
I think the reason for that human defiance is because we value human flourishing above God. So much so that a lot of really hard-core fundamentalists have noticed and believe that society is catastrophically wicked because we are simply far too focused on human flourishing and are leaving God out of the equation.
For them, God is the author and creator of the universe and whatever we do must conform to his will.
It’s tradition to pour a little water over the baby’s head when you give them their name.
“Why?”
“No reason. God likes it.”
“Okaaaay.”
But sometimes humanist morality conflicts with the will of God.
“Also, cut off the tip of his penis.”
“Why?”
“No reason. God likes it.”
“Hard pass. I’m taking home the entire baby.”
What must you do to be a good person?
You must engage in a specific list of meaningless gestures to keep God happy. If it helps you out, that’s lovely. If somebody (even a baby) gets hurt, what’s your point? His ways are mysterious.
If whatever God wants is moral, then how are we ever confused? Bible believers do get confused all the time. It happens when someone says “surely God wouldn’t want me to hurt someone.” Yes. Yes, he does. He actually does want you to kill someone if they leave Christianity or mow their lawn on Sunday. Given the current illegality of killing people, he will accept shunning.
Confused Christians trying to find a path forward are supposed to read the Bible to find out What God Wants. Knowing his will is all that is important, human flourishing is incidental at best.
Discomfort arises when God’s morality conflicts with human morality. Most people love their friends and family more than a hypothetical or non-existent God. Even Christians. Even if God is real.
Humanists are appalled at anti-trans laws, for example. The laws don’t have any function except to please God. God hates cross-dressers. Therefore it’s immoral. All morality is whatever conforms to the will of God.
What is the purpose of morality?
Humans can be bad for all kinds of reasons but generally, most of the time, we are very good with each other. If a total stranger trips and falls in front of you, you will help them to their feet and check that they are okay. That’s literally happened to me many times (yes, I am that clumsy, thanks for asking).
When someone says “homosexuals are going to hell,” they may actually believe that. But they are saying such an unkind thing out loud because they think being cruel to homosexuals will make God happy — and that’s what defines morality. If God wants it, it’s not cruelty. It’s fine
So what confuses the Christians is the conflict between humanist morality and God’s pleasure.
But …
Uncle George is gay. He’s a nice man who is kind to everyone. You can’t stand the thought of being cruel to him. So you pray and read the Bible. Surely God doesn’t actually want that. Yes. Yes, he does. In fact, he wants you to kill Uncle George but understands you’d go to prison for that. So cruelty is fine … he’s waiting.
Your mom is a brilliant speaker, but nobody at church knows that because if she spoke at church it would piss off God. We must keep God happy or he will burn us in Hell forever. Mom can suck it. If it hurts a little, there are a ton of rationalizations to cover the wounds for both you and Mom.
If God is the ground of all morality then that means if you don’t believe in God, you don’t have any foundation for your morality. Atheists are standing on thin air — amirite?
Yes, if morality is whatever God wants. Yes, if being a good person means glorifying God all the time to the best of your ability. Making God happy is everything. You must align yourself to God’s will or be eternally damned.
Why be good?
What bothers me the most about that view, other than the obvious, is that it assumes that morality has no intrinsic value. It’s something God makes you do and if he didn’t you wouldn’t. Atheists get told all the time that “Anybody who isn’t afraid of God would kill, rape, and steal.” Avoiding those things is for his benefit, not yours. As if somehow you would or could benefit from those things and wish you could do them but just don’t because God would be displeased.
But morality actually is a tool useful for human flourishing. If my neighbor doesn’t kill me or steal from me we both can flourish. In fact, a reputation for honesty and truthfulness means people will invite you to their barbecue and you can hang out and have fun.
What is the true ground of morality? The fact that we actually like each other.
To put it another way, love is the foundation of morality. I know the word “love” is a little strong (and conveniently poetic), but it is undeniable that, for the most part, we actually do enjoy each other’s company.
We humans have been breathing each other’s breath for hundreds of thousands of years. We like it. We enjoy it and we need it.
The reason it was so hard to wear a mask and socially distance in 2020 (excluding Trumpists) is because we love and need to see each other’s faces. And that conflicted with the need to protect human flourishing. Each of us did what we could to the best of our ability.
Protecting the tribe
We love our tribe of family and friends and behave better toward them than strangers. It is hundred percent human to prioritize your own tribe, but humanist morality means all people are worthy — at least potentially — of respect and kindness.
And don’t be fooled by the word “tribe.” I don’t mean hunter-gatherers. I mean Dallas, Texas.
Dallas, Texas had 252 murders in 2020 which was a spike — the usual number is around 175 but has been growing for (oddly) the past four years.
However, Dallas has 1.3 million people and they don’t even have one murder per day. And that’s a city where 20% say they have no religion.
The ground of humanist morality is people. If it promotes human flourishing then it is right. And if it harms it, it is wrong. If I let you starve because God told me to glorify him and shun you, one of us doesn’t flourish. I can’t find a moral principle there.
If we are good to each other, we all flourish.
That is the foundation of humanist morality. It looks shaky and full of holes — and it is — but it beats the heck out of glorifying a capricious entity who may or may not exist.