In the latter case, morality is what God says it is.
Oh. I don’t think you can have a useful discussion on this topic with someone to whom God has spoken so clearly. But even so, WHY (aside from punishment) is God’s voice morally compelling? I think to really get to this, you need to deconstruct the idea of “God” to the point that you can answer at a detail level what makes that a source of morality. Many many reasons can be replicated with another concept in place of God.
However, this line of discussion is in conflict with Scott’s premise “that many theists would change their mind if you could convince them on a gut-level that there could exist a godless moral world.” You CAN’T convince them of such, so it’s irrelevant. It’s also not true, extending from the case where they change WHICH god they believe it, but still think moral behavior is well-defined.
I guess what I should have said was “I believe I behave morally, more so than most self-identified theists” I also don’t believe there is an objective or outside-view of morality, so I don’t think I can help with identifying such sources.
Oh. I don’t think you can have a useful discussion on this topic with someone to whom God has spoken so clearly. But even so, WHY (aside from punishment) is God’s voice morally compelling? I think to really get to this, you need to deconstruct the idea of “God” to the point that you can answer at a detail level what makes that a source of morality. Many many reasons can be replicated with another concept in place of God.
However, this line of discussion is in conflict with Scott’s premise “that many theists would change their mind if you could convince them on a gut-level that there could exist a godless moral world.” You CAN’T convince them of such, so it’s irrelevant. It’s also not true, extending from the case where they change WHICH god they believe it, but still think moral behavior is well-defined.
I guess what I should have said was “I believe I behave morally, more so than most self-identified theists” I also don’t believe there is an objective or outside-view of morality, so I don’t think I can help with identifying such sources.