Atheist Ramblings - 4.1

From approximately August 2001

A little logic test...

...It is often said that god commands morals and that without god, we would have no morals. Well, lets look at that question. Can we as mere mortals find morals without god, or do we need him to command to us what is moral or not.

===--- This was an old flash based logic quiz... so sadly it no longer works ---===>
This is a rough aproximation of how the logic quiz worked

Question: Can God's commands make an action moral? Yes or No?
Yes No
Identify the true statement:

true/false - Either God exists or God does not exist
This is just a basic fact - either A or Not A. You can't have both - so this statement must be true.

true/false - If God does not exist, then God's commands can not make an action moral.
If he does not exist, then he can not give commands. This answer has to be true.

true/false - If God does exist, then God's commands must make an action moral.
This statement must also be false, because if this statement is true it leads to the final paradox

Select the true statement:

What is moral is moral because it is commanded by God.
It can not be true that whatever God commands is moral if it were then God could command an attrocity to be moral so there could be nothing immoral.

or

God commands what is moral because it is moral.
If this is true then what is moral is independent of God and God can not make an action moral by command.

If God's commands can not make an action moral then God saying something is wrong does not, by itself, make that thing wrong. Nor does God saying something is right make it right.

There must be some other method of determining what is right and wrong than following God's words or commands.
Here's the original swf if you want to dig up an old flash player to look at it

The above logic test is based losely on dialogues gathered on mailing lists and on IRC. Apologies and credit go to those who thought the original trains of thought, and I use them here with only loose permission since I dont remember who exactly said what

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