What Inspires Morality?

A few years ago, I was sitting with a group of friends from my church (all of whom I love, but some of whom are a bit more theologically conservative than I am), and we were talking, as one is wont to do, about all the ills of our society and how people seem to have no respect for others. One of the women whom I'll call Judy started talking about how it all began to go down hill when we took prayer out of schools, which in her mind led to the lack of attendance at church, and lack of people learning about God. But then she said something that really disturbed me, which was,

"The problem with kids these days is that they're not afraid of anything. I was afraid of my parents when I was a kid, and I do what's right now because I'm afraid of God's punishment. But these kids don't know about God."

I sat in complete silence, as did others around me. That was the first time I'd ever heard an adult say something like that. I remember that sort of fear as a child, all tied up with fear of punishment from all the adults in my life who were trying to teach me to behave. As a child, a punishing God made perfect sense to me, so I tried to do what I thought God wanted me to do, but, really, more important was minding my parents and teachers, because punishment from them was far more real than punishment from this ethereal big parent in the sky I'd never seen and who'd never done things like belittle me in front of the class or made me go to my room.

By the time I became an adult, though, struggling with my belief and doubt in God, coming back around to making the decision to join a church, reading the Bible, and falling in love with the teachings of Jesus, the Great Psychologist, I let go of all ideas of God as some sort of disciplinarian. I see God as someone who knows how incredibly difficult this life is, who is there to encourage me and to give me guidance and hope, someone to give me some focus so I don't waste time worrying about unimportant things. I don't "behave because I fear God's punishment". I behave (if you even want to call it that) because all the things we consider bad behavior, all ultimately boil down to one thing: hurting others.

I have no desire to hurt other people, at least not in the abstract. It's different, of course, when someone's lashing out at me or someone I love, or I hear about some horrible abuse. Then, of course, I feel like hurting back, and sometimes I do, even though I know it rarely gets me anywhere other than feeling even worse than I already did. I don't need a punishing God to to keep me from hurting others. My instinct is not to hurt others unless they've hurt me.

I think there are others in this world, though, who don't have this instinct. They're narcissists or sociopaths who don't have the capacity to empathize. They have no qualms about hurting others. Some even get joy from it. I don't know why such people exist any more than I know why people like me exist. I'm pretty sure, though, that a fear of God, if taught to them, doesn't keep those people from doing what they do. All you have to do is read children's stories written during the days when prayer was allowed in school. The class bullies still existed.  There have always been kids who didn't mind hurting other kids who grow up to be adults who don't mind hurting other adults.

When I listen to and read what contemporary atheists have to say these days in arguing against God and religion, they often bring up this point about morality and God. I guess they, much more than I, have been exposed to those who believe we'd have no morality in this world if we all stopped believing in God. In other words, those who are religious are only, like Judy noted, "good" because they fear God's punishment, or "good" because God has given them a list of rules to follow, and they follow them. I agree with these atheists who claim they don't need a God to keep them from stealing and raping and murdering. I wonder about those like Judy, though. I know this woman. She has a kind, loving heart and one of the warmest smiles that can't help but cheer others. I'm quite sure she wouldn't go around stealing and murdering either, even if she didn't believe in God. Meanwhile, there are those who murder and steal in the name of God. Also, different people define morality differently. Humans can find very little that they all agree is "good" and all agree is "bad". Morality, then, is a human-centered, not a God-centered concept.

I don't have any answers here. I do hope, however, we don't live in a society in which the majority of people are only "good" because they're afraid not to be. I also do know that one of the messages of the Gospels is not to fear. I can't imagine God wants us fearing God. And I'm quite convinced I don't need God in order to be a moral person. I need God in order to have somewhere to take worries and anxieties and to get out of myself. If this helps me to be less selfish, to focus on others, and to be more compassionate, well, then, yes, I suppose one could say God makes me a moral person, but I'd say God makes me more peaceful and joyful not more moral.