Ethics and Religion

Many people question whether God is the source of morality. Under divine command theory, God's will creates the moral order, and therefore ethical truths are true because of God's will. Under natural law, on the other hand, some ethical truths do not depend on God's will, and yet perhaps they depend on his reason or creation. Ethics and Religion develops strong, defensible, and original versions of both divine command theory and natural law. The book also discusses ethics and atheism: how atheists object on ethical grounds to belief in God and how they view ethics. The book defends belief in God from criticisms and analyzes related concepts, such as practical reason, the golden rule, ethics and evolution, the problem of evil, and the fine-tuning argument.

1. Introduction; Part I. Ethics as God's Commands: 2. Divine command theory; 3. Modified DCT; Part II. Ethics as Natural Laws: 4. Natural law: rationality; 5. Natural law: biology; 6. Natural law: spirituality; Part III. Ethics and Atheism: 7. Ethics without God; 8. God, evil, and cosmic purpose.

Harry J. Gensler, S.J., is Professor of Philosophy at Loyola University, Chicago. His thirteen books include Ethics and the Golden Rule (2013), Ethics: A Contemporary Introduction (2011), Introduction to Logic (2010) and Anthology of Catholic Philosophy (2005).