“Without God, everything is permitted.”
It’s one of the most repeated arguments against secular ethics. But it’s also one of the laziest. As if morality were a leash, and humans were just dogs needing divine control.
Christopher Hitchens confronted this directly:
“Name one ethical statement made, or one ethical action performed, by a believer that could not have been made or performed by a non-believer.”
No one ever could.
Morality predates religion. Empathy is inborn. Evolution favoured cooperative traits—care, fairness, justice—not because God demanded them, but because they helped us survive.
Richard Dawkins echoes this in The God Delusion:
“Let our tribal history, and our irrational emotions, be a lesson in what to watch out for. But let our enlightened rational minds be our guide.”
Religious morality often comes with loopholes and exclusions: obey God, and you’re righteous—even if you kill for Him. But secular ethics demands more. It requires reflection, reason, and a willingness to live by values that serve others, not just ourselves.
To say morality requires God is to belittle the human mind. It implies we can’t be kind without threat, can’t love without reward, can’t think without a rulebook.
But we can.
Morality without God is not only possible—it may be more honest.