Does an Atheist have a Reason to Believe in Objective Morality?

By Anthony Brooks

In a blog post on The Atheist Reformation website Thomas Druschke wrote an article over Morality he posted the two following quotes from Scott Clifton:

"A particular action or choice is moral or right when it somehow promotes happiness, well-being, or health; or it somehow minimizes unnecessary harm or suffering, or it does both."

     "A particular action or choice is immoral or wrong when it somehow diminishes happiness, well-being, or health; or it somehow causes unnecessary harm or suffering, or it does both."

These are obvious attempts to confirm objective morality without a higher authority. To the Atheist, he/she is the authority... There is no designer or supernatural sovereign over them. The greatest good to come from a life is procreation... That is the point of Naturalism.

There is an issue with these definitions... They don't prove objective morals. These definitions could easily have relative application...

Good is anything that benefits society and could possibly limit unwarranted pain and suffering... That is the basic point of the first definition.

Bad is when something harms society and could possibly cause unwarranted pain and suffering... That is the basic point of the second definition.

Scenario: Hitler and the Nazi Regime committed tremendous acts of racism that they said were the justified for the greater good of society.
Any balanced individual would say that war is justified for society, but not the unnecessary murder of millions.
Well Hitler called his efforts war against evil races and we (the Allied Powers) called them unnecessary murder.
Who was right? To Hitler, he was right. Justified in invading Poland, and for the murder and forced labor of countless Jews. To us, he was wrong because he had no reason for any of it in our eyes. But that was our eyes, not his.
He felt like it benefitted his society to do these things, and it would eventually limit suffering for his people... He felt like if the actions he took didn't happen, that eventually the suffering would be greater than what actually happened. He felt justified.

For a Christian with a absolute set of Moral absolutes, we know that it is wrong to murder without warrant, to discriminate against someone for their nationality, and to invade any land that wasn't granted to us without cause.

This is why 1. Objective Morals are important, and 2. Atheists can't believe in them.

Soli Deo Gloria!