“One million kiwis are good without God”. This is one of the new billboards seen around New Zealand.
One of the intentions of the more than $22,000 raised for these billboards is to start discussion.
I suspect that there is an intended double-meaning: (a) those on the census who registered “no religion” are fine (“good”); (b) those on the census who registered “no religion” live morally “good” lives.
I cannot judge if the former is true – I guess that the billboard-producers have checked them all out to see if none of them sweats about the meaning of life and not one of them ever suffers any existential angst. Great! I am surprised – so thanks for that piece of information at least.
It’s the second contention that fascinates me; that one million kiwis are morally good without God. In the liturgy we say of God, “you are the source of all life and goodness”. As Erasmus would have it, and Jung so famously reinforced: “Vocatus Atque Non Vocatus Deus Aderit – Bidden or not bidden, God is present.” It is not the registering of oneself on the census as having a religion that makes God present in one’s life. It is not the registering of oneself as “no religion” on a census that removes God’s presence from one’s life. Wherever there is love – God is present (“Ubi Caritas et Amor, Deus ibi est”). Wherever there is goodness – God is its source.
In fact the opposite is also true. It is not the case, as some might take from the billboard, that three million kiwis are good with God. As if putting one’s religion on the census form means that one is “good”. There are endless accounts of religious people doing evil. In fact there are endless accounts of people using and abusing religion for evil.
Jesus calls us to be salt, and light, and leaven, enhancing the good and minimising evil. I suspect that Jesus, were he alive today (he is alive today!) would horrify some “religious” people (as he did in his own day) by hanging out with “non-religious” types and denouncing some who tout their religiosity.
I am delighted to work in partnership with atheists of good will for the betterment of others and our world. I see God in that. I’m comfortable that others might not.
man created God
There’s probably no God?
antitheist
NZ Atheist Campaign
Great post. I wholeheartedly concur with your conclusion. I would add also, next to the atheists, the people of other religions of good will. And yes I see and encounter God’s grace in them.
Blessings
David
PS: I’m wondering why you give a mixed (Dutch/English) translation of the quote of Erasmus/Jung. 🙂
What a Lovely post! I’m happy to have found you! Love everywhere! Julie
Hi Rev. Bosco,
That’s an interesting ad.
I think “good” is applied very loosely here. Probably to mean that those without a criminal record are considered good, without looking at the many ways we do harm to others and ourselves on a daily basis.
Having said that, the ad isn’t addressing the presence of God, but the belief in Him. People act morally, whether they believe in God or not.
Believing in God doesn’t automatically make someone good. It’s the attributes we associate with God, and our understanding of how He relates to us, that influences how we lead our lives. Some people live in constant guilt and self-hate because they believe God is only looking at them to judge their actions and condemn them for their shortcomings. Not a pleasant view of God at all.
Although I’m a Muslim, I relate a lot to the life of Jesus, especially in his struggle with the religious scholars, who saw themselves as an authority to speak on behalf of God’s religion, and condemned him from straying from God’s message.
Sadly, many religious scholars promote a message that’s contrary to how God wants us to live, yet claim that they are on the right, and those who disagree with them have erred.
Thank you for your visit, Haider, and for adding your perspective here.
The word God is has so many tags on to it, maybe it’s the tags they are claiming to be “without”. God means so many things to different mindsets. If we meet God inside our own hearts maybe for some his name is now Good?
The meaning of the billboard is that people who do not believe in God are not in fact Satan worshiping demons. The fact you have more chance of finding a professing Chrtistian in jail than you do an Atheist. Belief in a God does not aid your moral compass; in fact may compromise it by permitting immoral behaviours through scripture.
The fact is that modern morality; such as the prohibition on slaves and equality for women, laws against racial discrimination, are all secular in origin; all of which were opposed by Christians on the basis of scripture.
Simply asserting that some God exists, them claiming that all the good in the world is, by default, his work, despite an overwhelming lack of any shred of evidence to the existence of such a being, tends to put lie to the assertion.
I do agree that “There are endless accounts of religious people doing evil.”, and obviously the same is true of those who do not assert the existence of Gods, fairies, ghosts, goblins, unicorns, or any other creation of their imagination.
So if being a Christian doesn’t make you more moral, what religion for?
Interesting lack of reply from Bosco. Funny how Christians full quiet when you mention that their God saw no issue with slaves, ownership of woman, racial discrimination etc…
“A human cannot own another human” probably the corner stone morality today appears nowhere in the words of the Christian God.
Thanks for your visit and comment, Brendon. I’m not sure if you are suggesting that I have “fallen quiet”, or if you are referring to other Christians? Of the seven comments here, I did add a comment to a couple, but have no need to respond to all the good points being made here by those commenting. That’s hardly “falling quiet” in response to Peter’s points!
Have you actually read my post?
“There are endless accounts of religious people doing evil. In fact there are endless accounts of people using and abusing religion for evil. I suspect that Jesus, were he alive today (he is alive today!) would horrify some “religious” people (as he did in his own day) by hanging out with “non-religious” types and denouncing some who tout their religiosity. I am delighted to work in partnership with atheists of good will for the betterment of others and our world. I see God in that. I’m comfortable that others might not.”
Blessings
Yes, of course I had read your full post, I think the issue is there does not seem to be much evidence that God foresaw this, and accounted for it, the bible that is supposedly the word of God has been used to justify the actions of much evil.
But evil has very loose definition when in these types of discussions.
I would think it evil to consider a woman the property of a man. But the bible supports this. This is not even an ambiguous rule badly interrupted. So if the bible was written as a moral guide, it got a few, no, many things wrong.
The point of Peter’s reply was that most morals today are secular in origin and not taken from the bible, these are morals that theists and non-theists alike adhere to.
So to be good without “A belief in a God” is actually easy.
Yes, Brendon, I agree with you, if your last sentence means that for many it is as easy as with it.
It’s not very good science, though, is it. I mean, where’s the control group? Either we’re all “good without God” (except perhaps for those who’ve chosen evil all on their own) or none of us are.
The billboard is a reference to the humanist movement, and takes as its main phrase the title of the best-selling book ‘Good Without God’ by the Humanist Chaplain at Harvard University, Greg M. Epstein. (Here’s a link to an interview with him: http://abcnews.go.com/video/playerIndex?id=9650818)
I think that ‘Atheist’ is the wrong label to use here, as Atheism is just one believe system under the humanist umbrella. You can see in the corner of the billboard some links to humanist websites.
As you say in the beginning, the aim of the billboard is to promote discussion. This is the essence of the humanist movement – we are champions for secularism. We believe that the wide variety of different religions out there adds a huge richness to human live, and only deepens the potential for learning.
Many may not believe in god at all, or may have a more abstract sense of spirituality (i.e. I don’t believe in a God of any kind, but get a strong sense of spiritual fulfillment from understanding the science behind large natural systems such as climate, ecology, geophysics, and my small place within those).
But regardless of personal beliefs, ‘good without god’ references the thought that there are underpinning moral systems and values that all humans can aspire to. The key difference may be where we get those morals from – is it the guidance of a religious text, or a modern philosopher, or what our family taught us?
It’s easy to see that all religion has at its essence a response to basic human need for love, care and protection. The billboard seems to me to be reminding us that there are all sorts of different ways to offer this, and no one ‘right’ way.
Thanks for your eirenic contribution, Marita. Much appreciated.