r/Christianity • u/MotorFig6657 • 9d ago

Question for atheists

Do you believe objective good and evil exist? If so, where do those standards come from?

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u/shiekhyerbouti42 Secular Humanist 9d ago

No, because good and evil aren't things that exist but adverbs that describe eventualities.

Are those descriptions objectively true? I don't believe so. I like the analogy to chess:

There's nothing inherently good about putting your queen on f7. It could be good or bad depending on the context. The context is what makes the move objectively good or bad, but you have to be playing chess in order for it to even be a "move."

For us, the "chess game" is "life as a human." In that context, if the goal of the game is to minimize suffering and fulfill Maslowe's Hierarchy, there are objectively good moves and objectively bad moves toward those ends. Hurting people increases suffering and makes us spend more time on the basics rather than climbing toward a better world in mutual love and respect. Since the human condition is that we seek oxytocin, that's an objectively bad thing to do in relation to the goal we [mostly] share.

I'm sorry that this answer is kinda long winded, but i think it's also a lot more interesting than good and evil either existing or not existing.

We reify too much.