Who decides who is good?

1. Who decides who is good? Who should decide what is moral?

2. Who decides what is good? Gina Allen • Percy Bissche Shelley • The Necessity of Atheism • Presbyterian Trustee • I don’t believe what the church teaches, but • Without the church there would be no morality.

3. My own brother’s indictment of me “How can you be a good man if you don’t believe in God?” A very brief personal note

4. Is it now the time to change who decides? Is it high time for more thoughtful people to be heard? Who are the good who can decide reliably?

5. It's time for atheists and humanists to become confident enough of our moral principles that we go public. I am tired of those with their morality mired deep in the past being allowed to claim the right to decide what makes good values--what it takes to live a good moral life in our time.

6. Etymology of morality and ethics • mos (moris) -- customary morality (tautology) • moral morality • ethos -- customary ethics (also a tautology) • ethical ethics

7. Customs are important but changeable Customs show us the wisdom, the stupidities and the obsolescence of the past. So customs have a way of changing…

8. Old authorities not very reliable today

9. How do you know if you re ethical? Where do you get your ethics? What makes you a good person? How and why and by whose standards are you living a good, ethical life?

10. Ethics defined Ethics (philosophically) is the principles of good behavior. Rules and guidelines defining right and wrong Good morality is living by those principles

11. Does good or bad change in differing circumstances ? Pope says here's a list of goods and bads Bible's Torah --613 commandments or laws; 365 of them are prohibitions for the Jews

12. Your priest, rabbi, imam say here are the commandments you must obey. Parent-like authorities say 'do as I say' I know more what is good for you than you do. So who do we listen to???

13. Circumstances alter cases mightily • Foggy morning on the Interstate • Poet • Farmer • Motorists • Boss... • Father & breadwinner • Delivery man… • Towing service • Ambulance crews

14. Who most often decides?? The good? Or the powerful? Yes! Both, historically

15. Let’s try to improve on the old ways The old authoritarian approach worked before general education. It worked for Moses; it worked for Popes, kings, emperors, dictators of many stripes for many centuries.

16. Old authorities die hard Vested interests of power and glory want to hold on to the old ways. Humanae Vitae of Pope Paul VI (1968)

17. Dignitas Personae Benedict XVI-The dignity of the person—2008 Official instructions on bioethics Bans the morning after pill, I.U.D., RU-486 These can cause abortions Directed to all Drs., researchers, legislators Now some pharmacists are refusing BC devices.

19. Such counterproductive thinking continues to enslave the ignorant and anger the thoughtful. So we need newer and more adaptable thinking

20. Summarizing an ancient problem John B. Hodges, February 2006 paper, “Atheist Foundations of Ethics” • Priests have allied with kings and dictators… • using religion as a tool to keep …people quiet • Religion… has perverted the field of ethics… • denouncing as sinful any attempt to apply human thought to moral questions.

21. Times are changing In the ages of faith and before general literacy and education, catechetical imposition of ethical guidelines was broadly accepted (at least in theory) But times are changing

22. EVEN THE MOST FUNDAMENTAL BIBLE THUMPER wants some changes from old time biblical morality. Here is part of a letter that an internet wag addressed the Reverend Jerry Falwell for some scriptural advice:

23. "Dear Jerry Falwell: Thank you for doing so much to educate people regarding God’s Law. I have learned a great deal from your show, and try to share that knowledge with as many people as I can. When someone tries to defend the homosexual lifestyle, for example, I simply remind them that Leviticus 18:22 clearly states it to be an abomination.

24. I do need some advice from you, however, regarding some of the other specific laws and how to follow them: 1. I would like to sell my daughter into slavery, as sanctioned in Exodus 21:7. In this day and age, what do you think would be a fair price for her?

25. 2. I have a neighbor who insists on working on the Sabbath. Exodus 35 clearly states he should be put to death. Am I morally obligated to kill him myself?

26. 3. Leviticus 21:20 states that I may not approach the altar of God if I have a defect in my sight. I have to admit that I wear reading glasses. Does my vision have to be 20/20, or is there some wiggle room here?

27. I know you have studied these things extensively, so I am confident you can help. Thank you again for reminding us that God’s word is eternal and unchanging.

28. Dad’s Friday embarrassment Friday brouhaha for the threshing crew

29. People power for moral change Social pressure, the power of society still helps shape morality; it always will. This important basic principle is not going to change, even though specific customs continually change.

30. Drunk staggers to his destination • Can you picture society staggering, • experimenting down through the centuries • first too close to the right line, reacts • then too far to the left, reacts again • learning more and getting more sober • learning right from wrong (what works or not)

31. Modern moral guidelines In deciding when to hold and when to fold a custom or old teaching, let's bring in some of the best modern philosophers to help us.

32. Dr. Paul Kurtz Has written very extensively and eloquently Was awarded AHA’s Lifetime Achievement in 2007 A few thoughts from his acceptance speech

33. 1) Ethics is not derived from external commands but comes from human experience modified by human intelligence.

34. 1) Ethics is not derived from external commands but comes from human experience modified by human intelligence. 2) Life, the here and now, is good for its own sake.

35. 1) Ethics is not derived from external commands but comes from human experience modified by human intelligence. 2) Life, the here and now, is good for its own sake. 3) We are confident we can solve our problems with reason, science, education and good will.

36. 1) Ethics is not derived from external commands but comes from human experience modified by human intelligence. 2) Life, the here and now, is good for its own sake. 3) We are confident we can solve our problems with reason, science, education and good will. 4) We tolerate pluralistic life styles without necessarily agreeing with them.

37. 1) Ethics is not derived from external commands but comes from human experience modified by human intelligence. 2) Life, the here and now, is good for its own sake. 3) We are confident we can solve our problems with reason, science, education and good will. 4) We tolerate pluralistic life styles without necessarily agreeing with them. 5) While seeking our own happiness, we are concerned with the rights of others sharing our planetary community.

38. Austin Dacey Austin Dacey, in his 2008 book, The Secular Conscience, shows good philosophical insight as he goes beyond what most have reached so far.

39. Do you agree with Jefferson? I am confident that many of you say, 'believe what you will; just don't get in my hair with it!‘ Thomas Jefferson said: "It does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are 20 gods or no god. It neither picks my pocket not breaks my leg."

40. Dacey’s Privacy Fallacy …leaving belief systems completely in the private realm, does not allow for serious public discussion… This is the “Privacy Fallacy”—very important

41. Privacy fallacy (cont.) Conscience matters are private , that is non-governmental We have no right to force anyone’s beliefs;

42. Privacy Fallacy (concl.) But beliefs lead to external behaviors And those behaviors affect society So the privacy of conscience is not absolute

43. Liberty fallacy …Those who accept the "unthinking assumption that matters of belief are immune from critical public inquiry and shared evaluative norms" hold the Liberty Fallacy. Conscience is free from coercion; but it must not be free from criticism (rational analysis) We still have a right to criticize those beliefs, because beliefs lead to behavior.

44. Liberty Fallacy (cont.) Compassion and understanding This lets society to establish smoking areas outside for addicts.

45. No man is an island Dacey again: "The exercise of conscience takes shape inside a social context of people giving reasons to each other. In this way although conscience issues reasons to an individual, its exercise is inherently public.“ So conscience is not absolutely free

46. Privacy & Liberty Fallacies closely joined • Conscience is private but not absolutely • Conscience is free but not absolutely • Those two concepts are so tightly related that they say almost the same thing: My privacy and my freedom are both exercised in social context; • So neither the privacy nor the freedom is absolute

47. Conscience goes public Amish horseman in modern traffic Suicidal Muslim Abusive father Smokers

48. Kara Neumann months before she died at age 11.

49. Trial of parents choosing faith over medicine By DIRK JOHNSON January 20, 2009 (New York Times) WESTON, Wis. - Kara Neumann, 11, had grown so weak that she could not walk or speak. Her parents, who believe that God alone has the ability to heal the sick, prayed for her recovery but did not take her to a doctor.

50. Leilani and Dale Neumann in court