People who have no religion know right from wrong just as well as regular worshippers, according to a study published in the journal Trends in Cognitive Sciences. London’s Telegraph reported on the study under the headline “Atheists ‘just as ethical as churchgoers.’”
On her blog at USA Today Cathy Lynn Grossman asked readers if they felt that “good-without-God” studies were a threat to their religious faith.
For biblically-informed believers the answer should be “Of course not.”
Scripture is clear that even among those who have not been taught the law [i.e., right-from-wrong as revealed in Scripture], “the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts now accusing, now even defending them” (Romans 2:15). The Abolition of Man by C.S. Lewis would be a good place to start if you’ve never thought about the fact that right-from-wrong is part of being human.
It’s factory-installed, not after-market.
Besides, learning to “be good” isn’t the real distinction that religion offers—at least the religion of Jesus, who promised rest for those who were weary and heavy-laden from trying to “be good.” When we discover that, like all of humanity, we have sinned and have fallen short of the glory of God, we gladly trade the pursuit of being good for the grace of Christ:
This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus (Romans 3:22-24).
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(The study Grossman referenced isn’t primarily about atheists being just as good as believers. The study is part of the debate over the origin of religion among evolutionary theorists. But the part of the study that generated the media buzz was the contention that non-believers have a moral compass as do believers. It’s that contention I’m addressing in this post)
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