Ordinary Morality Implies Atheism

European Journal for Philosophy of Religion 1 (2):107 - 126 (2009)
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Abstract

I present a "moral argument" for the nonexistence of God. Theism, I argue, can’t accommodate an ordinary and fundamental moral obligation acknowledged by many people, including many theists. My argument turns on a principle that a number of philosophers already accept as a constraint on God’s treatment of human beings. I defend the principle against objections from those inclined to reject it

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Stephen Maitzen
Acadia University

Citations of this work

God and gratuitous evil: Between the rock and the hard place.Luis R. G. Oliveira - 2023 - International Journal for Philosophy of Religion 94 (3):317-345.
God, Soul and the Meaning of Life.Thaddeus Metz - 2019 - Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Skeptical theism and value judgments.David James Anderson - 2012 - International Journal for Philosophy of Religion 72 (1):27-39.
Agnosticism, Skeptical Theism, and Moral Obligation.Stephen Maitzen - 2014 - In Justin McBrayer Trent Dougherty (ed.), Skeptical Theism: New Essays. Oxford University Press.

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References found in this work

The Problem of Evil.Eleonore Stump - 1985 - Faith and Philosophy 2 (4):392-423.
Providence and the problem of evil.Eleonore Stump - 2011 - In Brian Davies & Eleonore Stump (eds.), The Oxford handbook of Aquinas. New York: Oxford University Press.
Free will, evil, and divine providence.Derk Pereboom - 2005 - In Andrew Dole & Andrew Chignell (eds.), God and the Ethics of Belief: New Essays in Philosophy of Religion. Cambridge University Press.
Divine love and human suffering.Jeff Jordan - 2004 - International Journal for Philosophy of Religion 56 (2-3):169-178.

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