Can We Be Good Without God? Book Review Example

Chamberlain, Paul. Can We Be Good Without God? A Conversation About Truth, Morality, Culture, & a Few Other Things That Matter. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1996. 202 pgs.

According to the publishers of this fascinating yet disturbing book, today’s American culture is plagued with a myriad of problems associated with racism, abortion, poverty, euthanasia, and genetic engineering, all of which are influenced by moral principles and ideals mostly based upon religious beliefs.

For most Americans, the moral and ethical dimensions of these and other social and political problems are founded upon a basic premise–that moral and ethical goodness is derived from God and that decisions on whether to undergo an abortion or have the so-called plug pulled on a terminally-ill loved one must be guided and determined by long-held religious convictions related to what is right and what is wrong, at least from the perspective of the Christian faith. However, there is a growing consensus in the United States that possessing moral and ethical principles based on the Christian faith and the Holy Bible “need not have anything to do with the God of the Old and New Testaments.” In other words, is it possible for people to be good and moral without believing in God or the tenets of Christianity or some other religious belief system?

The true significance of this book by Paul Chamberlain is that it raises some pivotal questions concerning the source of human morality and whether a human being can be morally and ethically good and correct without relying upon (or being guided) by core religious beliefs that overall are shared by billions of people. Also, since the correct form of moral behavior is shared by these same people, such as believing that murder and theft are morally wrong–“Can right and wrong exist without God?”

This is the fundamental question asked by Paul Chamberlain, associate professor of Apologetics and Philosophy at Trinity Western University in British Columbia, Canada. Chamberlain is also the author of two popular books on religion and morality–Why People Don’t Believe: Confronting Seven Challenges to Christian Faith (2011), and How to Talk About Good and Bad Without Getting Ugly: The Art of Moral Persuasion (2005). These book titles illustrate that Chamberlain’s writing style leans toward the common reader via avoiding pure scholarly language which some readers may have a hard time understanding.

What makes this book somewhat unique in the annals of Christian publishing is that Chamberlain has chosen to present his arguments through the viewpoints of five fictional characters via interviews, much like an author interviewing a subject for a new book. In these interviews which make up the bulk of the text, Chamberlain’s “cast of five” includes Ted, a devout Christian; Graham, a confirmed atheist; Francine who practices moral relativism; William, an adherent of the principles of evolution; and Ian, a secular humanist.

As a group, these participants “have been summoned to the home of a mystery host” who conducts the interviews. Altogether, they “undertake a fascinating examination of truth, conduct, (and) culture” while discussing “a few other things that matter” in the context of the interview topics.  For example, in Chapter 1 “What’s at Stake? The Meaning of Morality,” Graham the atheist has a conversation with Ted, the devout Christian. Ted asks Graham if he’s a religious person, whereby Graham replies, “Being an atheist, I don’t spend alot of time thinking about religion.” Ted then asks him about his ability to prove that God does not exist. After admitting this ability, Ted replies that if he were not a “true-blue atheist,” he would not have been elected as President of the Society for the Promotion of Atheistic Research.

Unlike most Christian-based books, locating the basic thesis or premise of Can We Be Good Without God? is relatively easy, due to being on the first page of Chamberlain’s short introduction in the form of two simple questions–1), “Is there any real right and wrong?” in relation to objective moral standards as contrasted with subjective moral standards or personal beliefs; and 2), “If there are such standards, why?” a reference to the question that if morals are not from a higher power like God, then where do they come from?

Certainly, burning questions about the foundation and source of human moral values and ethics are as old as recorded history, dating back much further than ancient Greek philosophers like Socrates and Plato. Obviously, Chamberlains knows this all too well, due to being a professor of philosophy and religion. However, unlike other books of this nature which are few in number, Chamberlain does not offer his own personal opinions, viewpoints, or beliefs on the main topic of his book. Rather, he allows the five main characters to express them for him in a running conversationalist style that is

reminiscent of a novel via one-on-one, dialog-like conversations between the characters while the invisible narrator/interviewer (obviously Chamberlain himself) sits back like a psychiatrist listening to a neurotic patient.

However, in his introduction, Chamberlain does provide a glimpse into his own personal feelings on whether human beings can be good and moral without depending upon a supreme being, in this case, a Christian God who controls the universe and the fate of all that walk upon its surface as men and women. As Chamberlain puts it, when considering ethics, one must begin with general moral principles, such as whether it is right to commit murder, and end with “specific conclusions about what we ought to do” in relation to right and wrong. Chamberlain then asks the reader, “Where are the guidelines to help us through the moral maze?” In this instance, the “where” turns out to be an unknown entity, due to the absence of moral guidelines in today’s ever-changing American social landscape. Thus, Chamberlain declares that in order to reach any conclusions, man needs a “moral foundation” composed of either morals dictated by God or morals dictated by man himself.

Overall, Paul Chamberlain’s Can We Be Good Without God? A Conversation About Truth, Morality, Culture, & a Few Other Things That Matter is a fascinating read, especially due to the divergent viewpoints of the five fictional characters with Ted and Graham arguing (or rather debating) on the source of human goodness and evil, and whether God is a figment of man’s imagination and a reflection of his universal need to believe in a higher power. Perhaps, as the character William proclaims, morals are part of man’s evolutionary track and are nothing more than genetic feedback fueled by chemistry and biology.

References

ACTS Seminaries. (2014). Trinity Western University. Retrieved from http://acts.twu.ca/faculty/paul-chamberlain.html