A Brief Intro to the Moral Argument

The Moral Argument has been one of the most effective arguments for God’s existence, and one that believers can use in a vast array of situations. Of all of the debates I have watched between atheists/agnostics and Christian philosophers, it has been the most difficult for the skeptics to answer. Even in my own dialogues on social media I have only encountered two responses to the Moral Argument: evasion and insult. Either the person I’ve presented this argument to attempts to avoid having to deal with the argument by trying to change the subject, ends the conversation, or proceeds to call me a cultist, bigot, flat-earther, religious zealot, or homophobe or misogynist if discussing abortion or homosexuality.

Before I continue, I titled this article A “Brief” Intro to the Moral Argument because life is getting busy since I’ve been adjusting to new seasons such as marriage, moving, and starting a new job. I haven’t had the time to write out an in-depth explanation of this argument (which saddens me as this is one of my favorite arguments for God’s existence!) and will likely be writing articles at half the speed I have been, granted that the man, the myth, the legend: Tom Loghry, approves such a request. I am hoping to write a follow up to this article that gives this apologetic the time and attention it deserves! Anyway, back to the article.

So how does this argument go? Put into a simple syllogism, it looks something like this:

Premise 1) If God does not exist, objective moral values do not exist.
Premise 2) Objective moral values do exist
Conclusion: Therefore, God exists.

Now, if you’re familiar with syllogisms, you know that the premise-premise-conclusion is only the core of the argument. So to understand them, you must stick around for the broader discussion. Each premise must be supported with evidence and supporting arguments, and if the premises are proven to be true, then the conclusion follows logically. So, let’s look at this in a way that will hopefully give you an idea of what you’ll say to your skeptical friend as you present this argument to them.

Premise 1) If God does not exist, objective moral values do not exist.

The underlying claim in this first premise is that God is the only viable grounding of morality. Nothing else will do. It seems that every person I’ve heard who does not believe in God and yet believes in objective morality tries to ground morality in society

and/or government. The easiest way to press them on this is to ask if Adolf Hitler did anything objectively wrong when he exterminated millions of people. If the answer is, “Yes,” then you can simply respond to the skeptic, “But why? The Holocaust was perfectly consistent with the Nazi moral order. What you must mean is that in your opinion H itler was morally wrong in killing innocent people.”

Usually, people will respond without thinking this through. You’ll typically get responses like, “No, what I mean is it’s objectively wrong to kill innocent people, and I don’t need God to know that.” With responses like this, asking questions or responding in ways that are formulated to get someone to face the consequences of their worldview are extremely useful. Don’t be intimidated though; it can be something as simple as, “But if morality is grounded in society/government, and the Nazi society/government deems it morally permissible to exterminate other humans based on race, religion, sexual orientation, etc., then any society that disagrees is only correct within their own borders. They can’t all be right!”

Don’t feel like you have to have the syllogism or the responses I’ve included here memorized. Each conversation is different and you will need to use wisdom to know how to get these points across in your own words. Perhaps the most useful thing to do is listen to many experienced Christians argue these points with skeptics. This way, you will get a host of ways this argument can be tailored to the individual person, and the conversational content itself. You may be talking about homosexuality, or perhaps abortion. Whatever the situation, if a moral issue presents itself in conversation, with practice, you’ll be able to argue effectively for God’s existence using knowledge that all people have already; which brings us to premise two.

Premise 2) Objective moral values exist

Now, if you meet someone who disagrees with this point, try testing their consistency and see how fast they get frustrated and/or contradict themselves (William Lane Craig did this effortlessly to Dr. Lewis Wolpert and others in a very entertaining video I’ve linked below!)

The simplest cases to bring up to support this premise are difficult, to say the least, for the moral relativist or Nihilist (who believes there is no morality, objective or relative), to deal with. Ask simply, “Is rape wrong?” and while they are trying to find a way to have their cake and eat it too, ask, “Is murder wrong?” You’ll get some very interesting and often revealing answers to these questions. Some potential answers you may here are:

“It is for me, personally.”

To which you may ask, “Is it wrong for me to steal your wallet right now?” If they say “yes,” or, “Again, it is for me,” then you could say, “How dare you impose your morality onme?”

“Yes.”
If this is their answer, then ask them where their morality is grounded and just continue teasing this point out until they realize that they have no viable grounding outside of God.

Or, if the nihilist is consistent with his or her worldview they will answer,
“No.” In which case, you could recommend counseling to them, or make it personal, as we did with the wallet question to the relativist, and see if they finally admit that at least some things are in fact right/wrong.

Seriously, watch the video I’ve linked below! You’ll hear some answers that are really out there!

From this point, if the skeptic hasn’t left the conversation or started attacking you with insults, all you have to do is tease the truth out of them. Keep challenging them to be consistent with their worldview and you will find it can have a powerful effect in conversation!

To watch William Lane Craig being William Lane Craig with the Moral Argument, Click Here:
Atheists Trying to Have Their Cake and Eat It Too on Morality - YouTube by Dr. Craig Videos

For a much better and in-depth explanation of the Moral Argument for God’s Existence, check out these:

Biblical TheologyDevin NicelyJanuary 7, 2021moral argument, william lane craigComment

A Brief Intro to the Moral Argument

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