Does morality need God

Answer 1

These are the word of Apostle Paul at Romans 2:14,15 - "14. For when people of the nations, who do not have law, do by nature the things of the law, these people, although not having law, are a law to themselves. 15. They are the very ones who demonstrate the matter of the law to be written in their hearts, while their conscience is bearing witness with them, and by their own thoughts they are being accused or even excused." So it is the bibles viewpoint that people are hardwired to know right from wrong, however, the hardwiring itself was done by God. So according to the bible, the answer is they don't need to know God to have a sense of right and wrong, but that sense would not have been there if not for God.

Answer 2

Of course not. There are millions of people who have high morals who do not believe in any supreme being(s) who controls the destiny of humankind. Some cultures have followed strict moral codes for millennia- codes that do not rely on deities. Most humans are hardwired with a sense of right and wrong and know how they should act in their society. There are primitive cultures that still exist in the world who have time honored moral codes of behavior that are used to settle disputes between people and between tribes. On the other hand, prisons are populated by people who believe in a god and some inmates are very religious. That tells us that this sense of right and wrong varies in humans as much as any other trait. People who believe in gods have not cornered the market on morality.

Consider the quote by Albert Einstein:

• A man's ethical behavior should be based effectually on sympathy, education, and social ties and needs; no religious basis is necessary. Man would indeed be in a poor way if he had to be restrained by fear of punishment and hope of reward after death.

Answer 3

I'm guessing that many answerers would say "no." However, it can be pointed out that moral rules have changed drastically. Here are just a few examples: Aristotle, who was among the greatest of the Greeks, and Seneca, the famous Roman, both write that killing one's young babies is perfectly ethical. In civil law, the Roman lexicon stated that anyone could accuse a man of owing them money and the debtor could be dismembered and killed (Roman "Twelve Tables of Law" code, 3:10). A Roman father could kill his son for any reason, without trial (Twelve Tables, 4:1). A Roman could be killed for assembling a noisy crowd at night and disturbing the town (Twelve Tables, 9:6). Elsewhere, temple-prostitution, incest, and human sacrifice were all viewed as part of religious worship. Therefore, a higher moral standard - not invented by humans - serves as a safeguard against such excesses.