Good Without God??

Can we be good without God? To me, that seems like a huge matter of opinion. Do you believe in God? What do you mean “be good”? Does that mean taking out the trash so my husband doesn’t have to? Following traffic laws? Or does it mean something much deeper? Does it mean doing good to thy neighbor and relatives, never committing a crime, going to church, recycling? I think this has to be determined before we can go any farther. To me, being good means all of these. To be good means to follow the rules, be considerate, try to do the best you can, and above all make sure you are happy. With this being my definition of “being good”, now we can answer the main question. Can you be good without God? I think so.

            According to Conyers and Harvey, “recent research suggests that a religious person is more likely to commit a crime than a non religious person.” (Beedles, 63) If the United States is one of the most religious countries, than that makes sense. Say 1 out of every five people doesn’t believe in God. That means if one of those four commits a crime, then they just justified that statistic. If anything, religious people may be more violent because if you believe in something so strongly, you are more willing to fight to defend it. There are hate crimes based on religious reasons all of the time. There are many reasons why it may seem that religious people are more likely to commit crimes.

Belief in God doesn’t control the way you act. I believe the reasons we do what we do are due to various reasons. We may do something because we wanted to, needed to, or because it felt like the right thing to do, not just because of our religion. Religion also doesn’t determine whether or not you will “be good”, your family, environment, and society all have different effects on the way you act. Just because you go to church doesn’t mean you are a perfect angel who had never done anything wrong, and just because you don’t go to church doesn’t make you an unstable person who is going to run out and commit felonies. It just doesn’t make any sense.

Belief in God may help you make decisions. It may lead you in the right direction, but it could very well lead you in the wrong direction. I don’t know how many times I have seen a person grow up in a VERY religious family. They always went to church, never cussed, always said prayer, and never disobeyed. The second they left and were out on their own, everything changed. They were now cussing, they never go to church, they are breaking all sorts of rules. Their religion didn’t turn them bad; the tight hold their parents had on them let them experience life at a much later age. Religion is no way to determine if a person will “be good” or not, you have to look at the whole picture.