persuasive essay about faith in god

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Essay on Faith in God (1446 Words)

February 20, 2018 by Study Mentor Leave a Comment

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God – An Omnipresent Strength

We wake up every morning and thank god for providing us another beautiful day in our lives. We offer prayers to God and thank him for all that he has given us in our lives.

We pray to god to offer us strength in times of sorrow and despair, we pray for special healing powers from him.

We seek blessings from god for ourselves and also for our near and dear ones. This sets us thinking as to why everyone seeks solace by putting themselves down before an unseen, unknown power, called God.

We may not be able to seek his presence, but a deep faith from within feels his very existence and this feeling is what exactly connects humans with God.

A connection is established between god and man, not unknowingly, but subconsciously in his mind, which he further strengthens and unfolds through his actions.

From the time a child is a small toddler, he is advised by elders of the house to thank god for any new thing he sees or does.

It is so believed that under the powerful blessings of god, the child starts learning new things and his ability further improves as he continues to bind himself strongly with god.

The child at his small, tender age perceives these insights and forms his own understanding about god.

The child is actually clueless what God actually is, but sees it as some unseen helping hand trying to come into play in all its activities.

As the child starts growing, he sees himself more connected with God, when his parents celebrate various kinds of festivals and seek god’s blessings as part of their everyday routine.

Witnessing this routine everyday takes the form of practice in the child’s mind and he sees himself connecting to god before doing anything small or big by him.

As he matures into an adult, practice is replaced by permanent faith in his heart, seasoned by everyday prayers and offerings to god and that’s when he starts believing that God is omnipresent around him, and the creator of the minutest thing around him, including his own existence is all thanks to the efforts of god.

He finds god’s presence everywhere, in his parents, in the things he uses, in the books that he reads, in himself and in just everything and everyone around him.

Different Religious Faiths

People pray to god in different ways. They opt for different paths to connect to God. The message sent out from all religions is clear and they all see god as one, single, universal power.

But the path to attain oneness with god varies from person to person and depends on their religious beliefs as well.

Religion plays the role of a medium that connects man to god by laying down certain principles and guidelines and expects its followers to follow them with conviction.

Adhering to the rules lying in religious scriptures and passing on these practices from one generation to the other has brought us to where we stand today.

Once a child is born in a family that is practicing a particular religion, the members of the family enforce their religious views on it and slowly instill faith in its tender mind.

The child becomes the carrier of these practices and he takes it to the next possible level and this continues from one generation to the next one.

India is a land of different religious faiths. We find people who go to temples to offer prayers to God, we find many others seeking blessings from lord by visiting churches, some others visiting mosques for finding oneness with god and many more.

All these religious beliefs provide their own channels to connect to God.

Likewise, people from different religions also differ in their cultural ways, lifestyles, food, clothing, celebrations and also the way they live.

Based on their religion, people also habitually develop different food habits, different ways of offering their services to god, idolization of god, etc.

In totality, religion is the base on which a person’s faith in god takes a particular shape and structure and finds its own unique path to reach oneness with god.

With religious beliefs arise the question of superiority leading to clashes between different religions.

India being a secular country gives total freedom to a person to decide on the religion he wants to follow. Nobody can force a person to practise a certain religion that is against his belief system.

Provisions for maintaining communal harmony and respect for all religions is laid down in our constitution and we as citizens of this country should abide by this without fail.

Belief in God as the Supreme Power

A certain student who is facing an examination the next day sits prepared to attempt his paper, but the same evening his father visits the nearby temple to offer special prayers to god to help his son with his exams.

Next day, before the son leaves for his exam, he also offers special prayers to God at his home and before actually starting the paper at the exam hall, thinks of God for a minute and then proceeds with the paper.

We can clearly see that though the student is prepared to take up the exam out of his own efforts, he builds up his confidence levels only after he connects to god in some way or the other.

That’s out of sheer practice. A belief inside the student assures him of a super power who would not let him down in case he faced some difficulty with the paper.

This belief system is thanks to the student’s family that has been instilling this belief in him since the time he was a child. Having this strong belief is by itself not wrong.

If the student puts all his efforts in completeness and then relies on god to add that final sparkle on his efforts, it makes the person accountable for his own attempts.

If the same person relies on god to such an extent where he puts his own efforts to the minimal but relies on a third factor called ‘luck’, then comes the negative side of the belief system.

In this scenario, the person is totally ignorant of his ability to perform in his tasks and is expecting some unseen magic to make it happen for him.

That’s the negative side of these belief systems that one should never get into. Hard work combined with faith in god to help sustain the hard work done is all that is required to achieve peace and happiness from one’s success.

Faith in God versus Superstitious beliefs

Over faith in god forces a person to bring in the presence of god into every simple thing he attempts or does.

A man opening a new shop or enterprise and seeking god’s blessings before beginning his business is said to be a fair and reasonable person.

If the same shop owner opens up a new enterprise and resorts to unfair means of trading in his business, he too is said to have faith in god but is making use of it in the wrong ways.

His faith in god is not allowing him to do the right things in his business because his thinking is not allowing him to do so.

The person believes that in spite of carrying out wrong deeds, he would still be able to flourish in his business since he has over faith or absolutely no faith in God.

An overdose of faith makes one believe that whether they act good or bad, god would still hold their hands by default. This wrong perception can also be treated as misfaith in god.

Idol worship is carried out at many religious places of worship. Some approve of it and some non-believers don’t. Worshiping god in the way they desire is one’s own personal choice.

Having wrong beliefs about a stone that absorbs milk into it and labeling it as having taken place due to god’s grace is nothing but superstitious thinking.

This has no way to connect with God and identifies unscientific, unreasonable practices and taking advantage in the name of god.

Praying to god for seeking motivation and strength to tread the hard path is true devotion towards god.

Offering prayers to god allows a person to calm down his senses and gives him a sense of relief from his duties. Faith in god provides strength from within to perform our duties with respect and utmost sincerity.

A feeling of well being and goodness is achieved when one seeks spiritual connections with god.

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Short Essay On Faith In God

Author Writer

Faith in God

Humans are innately vulnerable that is why we tend to be dependent on someone or something. Even from ancient times, people needed a ruler to rely on. In life, we all needed a force that will urge and guide us to live. A being to reckon and serve as a pillar for our strength. After all, the burden of tomorrow’s uncertainty is too much to bear.

God is the word that resonates since the start of time. People from different religions have God: In Hinduism, they have Shiva; in Buddhism, there is Buddha; in Islam, there is Allah; in Judaism, they call their God Yahweh; and in Christian, they have God and Jesus. Although separated by the diverse religions, there is one thing in common, the strong faith of the followers. The believers are what compose every religion. People nowadays are given the freedom to choose what religion they want to believe in.

Faith is a very complex word to be explained. It is a word that is much more powerful than love or hatred. It takes really a lot to fully surrender yourself and believes in something you don’t see. It’s a devotion to something or someone an intense belief that you will not betray no matter what. A person who has no faith is like walking on an endless circle moving forward but with no certainty and conviction.

There are many reasons why people develop a strong faith in God. It can be because of too many sufferings. People tend to seek help and comfort when confronted with difficult times. It can also be because they are raised from a God-fearing family. After all, family is the strongest influence on a child. A certain circumstance that made you believe that God exists cause most people to ask for a sign like the saying goes—" to see is to believe” . Others claimed they have been called upon, they felt a force that urges them to devote their lives to serving God.

Faith teaches people important things. Not everything you see matters and not everything you can’t see doesn’t matter. It also teaches us about patience and humility. Knowing someone is above you is life-changing. The thought of this will keep your feet on the ground. You will not feel alone anymore for you know that you have someone to rely on when things get rough. Faith is not someone’s weakness but rather a strength.

The virtue faith holds can change one’s life. People with strong faith know how to handle too much stress. They are not easily conquered and succumb to negative emotions. People learned to be contented. Sometimes we ask for things we wanted so we fail to see the things we needed that were given to us. Through faith, we have someone we can tell our deepest secret that we can’t afford to tell anyone. Faith makes someone open up their heart. The fear of being a judge is erased because God will always understand and forgive.

The strong force, called faith, connects people from different places and races. The barrier that divides people is shattered by the common goal which is to surrender completely to God. In faith, you don’t need to speak. The heart will understand what things you can not express through words. It’s a great feeling to have someone who shares the same passion as you. Someone to accompany you to burn the intensity of your devotion towards God even more.

Faith can be the faintest whisper of prayers at night or a loud cry of praise during a church gathering. It’s a gift to mankind. It holds so much promise and meaning. The life that was filled with darkness can be lightened up with just a small light of faith. The trust a human can easily give without worrying about being betrayed. It’s the best thing the world can offer. The most beautiful thing everyone can afford.

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Christian persuasive speech topics | example & outline, rachel r.n..

September 6, 2022
Essay Topics and Ideas

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Christian Persuasive Speech Topics

You’ve been asked to give a persuasive speech from a Christian perspective, but you don’t know where to start. Don’t worry – we’ve got you covered. In this article, we’ll share some of the most popular Christian persuasive speech topics so that you can choose the one that will resonate best with your audience.

Looking for some good Christian persuasive speech topics? You’ve come to the right place! Here are some great ideas to get you started.

1. The Power of Prayer – Prayer is a powerful tool that can help us in many ways. Persuade your audience to start praying more often!

2. The Importance of Forgiveness – Forgiveness is essential to our Christian faith. Help your audience understand why it’s so important to forgive others.

3. The Truth About Homosexuality – There’s a lot of misinformation out there about what the Bible says about homosexuality. Set the record straight with your audience!

4. The Lies of the Devil – The Devil is always trying to deceive us and lead us astray. But we don’t have to listen to his lies! Share the truth with your audience.

5. The Hope of Heaven – Heaven is a real place, and one day we will all be there! Share the hope of heaven with your audience and let them know what they can look forward to.

When it comes to delivering a persuasive speech, Christians have a wealth of topics to choose from. Whether you’re looking to convince your audience to take action on social issues, or you’re hoping to inspire them to change their lives for the better, there’s sure to be a topic that resonates with you and your beliefs.

To help get you started, we’ve compiled a list of some of the most popular Christian persuasive speech topics . Take a look and see if any jump out at you as being particularly relevant or interesting for your audience.

1. The Importance of Forgiveness 2. The Power of Prayer 3. The Danger of Drugs and Alcohol 4. The Blessings of Adoption 5. The Sanctity of Life 6. The Truth About Homosexuality 7. The Beauty of Modesty 8. Dating with Purpose 9. The Dangers of Pre-Marital Sex 10. Why You Should Wait Until Marriage to Have Sex

These are just a few ideas to get you started. Whatever topic you choose, make sure you do your research and be prepared to share the truth in love!

100+ Argumentative Essay Topics on Mental Health | Example & Outline

Christian Persuasive Speech Ideas

If you’re looking for some good Christian persuasive speech topics, then you’ve come to the right place. Whether you’re looking to persuade your fellow Christians or those of other faiths, these topics should get you started.

1. The Bible is the word of God and should be followed as such. 2. Jesus was the son of God and his teachings should be followed. 3. Christianity is the one true religion and all others are false. 4. Christians should be tolerant of others and their beliefs. 5. Christians should evangelize to those who do not yet know Christ. 6. The Church is an important institution and its teachings should be respected. 7. Christianity is a way of life, not just a set of beliefs.

8. Christians should be charitable and help those in need. 9. The Ten Commandments are still relevant today and should be followed. 10. Christianity is not a religion of hate, but of love.

11. Christ died for our sins and we should strive to live sinless lives. 12. We are all children of God and should love one another. 13. The Bible is the ultimate authority on morality and ethics. 14. Christians should be involved in the political process to ensure that Christian values are represented. 15. Christians have a responsibility to evangelize to those who are lost.

16. The Church is the body of Christ on earth and should be protected as such. 17. Christians should stand up for their beliefs, even when it is unpopular. 18. Christianity is not a crutch for weak people, but a strength for all. 19. The teachings of Christ can change lives and should be shared with others. 20. Christianity is not a static set of beliefs, but a living faith that evolves as we grow closer to God.

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Christian Persuasive Speech Topics to Write About

The blog section of an article on Christian persuasive speech topics can offer some great ideas for those looking to write a speech on this topic. Here are some potential blog topics to consider:

-The top 10 most persuasive Bible verses for Christians -How to defend your faith in a debate -The most common objections to Christianity and how to answer them -How to share the gospel with someone who is skeptical -What is the difference between apologetics and evangelism? -Why it is important for Christians to be engaged in the public square -What are some tips for effective witnessing? -Are there certain types of people that Christians should not try to evangelize? -What is the best way to reach Muslims with the gospel? -What are some things that Christians can do to combat secularism?

-How can Christians be more effective in their witness to the LGBT community?

-What is the best way to reach atheists with the gospel?

-What are some things that Christians can do to combat religious pluralism?

-What is the best way to reach people of other religions with the gospel?

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Faith, Reason, and Personal Persuasion

Recently a newspaper reporter asked me to respond to two provocative questions:

(1) “Is it necessary to leave reason and move to faith in order to embrace Christianity?” and (2) “If there are strong arguments in support of Christianity’s actually being true, then why aren’t more people, particularly intelligent, well-educated people, persuaded as to its truth?”

As to the first question, historic Christianity doesn’t require believers or nonbelievers to choose between faith and reason, as though the two are unalterably separate spheres. Rather, Christianity is uniquely a reasonable faith (a trustworthy and reasonable belief system). The events that form the core of Christian belief-the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth-are rooted in history. Christian apologists for two thousand years have presented diverse evidences and arguments for embracing Christian truth-claims.

While specific Christian doctrines such as the triune nature of God and the union of the two natures of Christ certainly transcend human comprehension, Christian belief never violates reason itself. In fact, Christian philosophers have argued that the God of the Bible uniquely provides the metaphysical foundation for logic and rationality. 1 The consensus throughout church history is that faith and reason are compatible and complementary.

The New Testament word for “faith” or “belief” (Greek: pisteuo , the verb; pistis , the noun) is rich in meaning. To have biblical faith in Jesus Christ for salvation includes: (1) a genuine (factual and historical) knowledge of the gospel events; namely, Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection, (2) a personal assent to the truth and importance of those events, and (3) a confident trust in the object of that faith (the risen Lord Jesus Christ). Faith, in a biblical context, is therefore not separated from authentic human knowledge of truth and reality.

As to the second question, it is true that some highly educated people are not persuaded of the truth of historic Christianity. However, many leading intellectuals in the world from various academic and professional fields do embrace historic Christianity as a rational and viable world-and-life view. 2 Early twentieth century Christian apologist and writer G. K. Chesterton makes this comment about those who reject Christianity: “The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and left untried.” 3 When it comes to the “ultimate issues of life,” people persuasion involves more than exposure to rational arguments typically presented via the public educational system, even higher education.

Christian philosopher Ronald H. Nash argues that it is important to distinguish between arguments on one hand and personal persuasion on the other. 4 People come to their beliefs about reality and truth based upon various factors, some rational and some nonrational . A good argument provides reasonable and truthful support for its claim. Just because a person is not persuaded by a given argument doesn’t necessarily mean that the argument is somehow logically defective. Nonrational factors such as ignorance, bias, self-interest, fear, or pride may stand in the way of a person genuinely understanding and feeling the full force of a powerful argument and thus being persuaded by it. A person’s noetic (belief-forming) faculties are seldom as neutral, detached, and coolly objective as many people-including especially “intellectuals”-would like to think. This subjective, egocentric predicament is shared by all people, regardless of educational level.

Persuasion, then, seems to be “person-relative,” 5 and no single argument will likely persuade everyone-especially when it comes to the big issues. And simply because some questions are hotly contested does not mean that all positions on them are equally valid and none superior; hence, the importance of the biblical imperative to put beliefs to the test (1 Thess. 5:21; 1 John 4:1).

It would be fair to say that few people accept or reject Christianity based purely upon rational factors. After all, human beings are far from purely rational creatures. Scripture indicates that a person’s coming to (or conversion to) faith in Christ is never a solely intellectual decision (Acts 13:48; 1 Cor. 12:3). God’s efficient grace works in remarkable ways to draw people to Himself (John 6:44, 65).

In conversation with nonbelievers, one might ask why they reject specific Christian truth-claims. Is their unbelief based upon rational or nonrational factors? Instead of a reasonable faith, it may be that nonbelievers have, in effect, an unreasonable lack of faith.

Kenneth Richard Samples, Without a Doubt: Answering the 20 Toughest Faith Questions (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 2004), see chapters 1 and 2.
See, for example, Kelly James Clark, ed. Philosophers Who Believe: The Spiritual Journeys of 11 Leading Thinkers (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity, 1993); and Eric C. Barrett and David Fisher, Scientists Who Believe: 21 Tell Their Own Stories (Chicago: Moody, 1984).
G. K. Chesterton, www.chesterton.org/acs/quotes.htm;accessed July 14, 2004.
Ronald H. Nash, Faith and Reason: Searching for a Rational Faith (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1988), 108-10.

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211 God Essay Topics & Examples

Whether you’re willing to write about your beliefs regarding religions, how the Bible was created, or devotion in your life, you may need a good title. Get the perfect God topic from the list prepared by our experts here.

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Eliezer’s Struggle to Keep His Faith in God It was after he joined the camp that his faith decreased as he could not clearly understand why God could not rescue him and others that he deemed to have suffered more than he did, […]
God’s Covenant with Abraham in Genesis 12-22 The covenant with Abraham is of primary relevance to a correct interpretation of the concept of the kingdom and is basic to Old Testament doctrine.
“The Mission of God’s People” Book by C. Wright The book The Mission of God’s People is a biblical context of how Christians should understand the meaning of mission based on God’s purpose in the world.
The “God Still Matters” Essay by Herbert McCabe Herbert McCabe’s essay provides a vivid description of James Cone’s view and approaches to the theological problem of evil through The Cross and Lynching tree.
God’s Existence as a Topic in Philosophy While the famous dilemma of the coexistence of God and evil represents a peculiar contradiction, it does not deny the existence of God; instead, it points to the inconsistency in the existing narrative and the […]
God’s Healing Is Not Influenced by Level of Faith For example, in response to the courage that the woman with the flow of blood demonstrated, Jesus said that the faith she had made her whole.
Cavendish’s vs. Spinoza’s Views on God In addition to this, Cavendish understanding of the existing relationship between God and the one substance is twofold. The only point of departure in this similarity is that as for Spinoza, God is not a […]
Kilner’s “Humanity in God’s Image” Article Critique A powerful boost to one’s sense of self-worth can be attained by first coming to terms with the fact that we are created in the image and likeness of God and, as a result, take […]
Concept of God: Atonement, Incarnation, and Sin Applying this framework to the concept of God and the original sin shared by the whole of humanity, a problem emerges.
The Existence of God: Key Arguments The cosmological proof of the existence of God was developed by the ancients and is most often found in the following form.
Pascal’s Wager: Belief in God as a Rational Choice It is one of the favorite tools of religious preachers who try to appeal to famous names and a kind of logic to convince people to enter their faith. The second argument against Pascal’s wager […]
The Divine Sovereignty of God and the Free Will of Man God’s intervention in history means for most biblical authors that the will of God ultimately determines the course of events, and human freedom is manifested in the fact that he either accepts this will of […]
Defense of God’s Love Using Systematic Theology The detailed analysis of the nature of God such as the living God implies that in His infinite spirit, He is alive and is the source and the support of every life form.
The Existence of God: Apologetics Field-Based Activity I hope to use the lines of argumentation in the conversation in a manner to ensures the interlocutor in the historical reliability of pieces of evidence.
Creativity of God Expressed in Colorado Springs In the Biblical context, the premise of creativity is perceived through the lens of God’s creation: “God’s relationship to the world is analogous to an artist’s relationship to her art; the natural world reveals the […]
God’s Teachings on Salvation and How to Obtain It Finally, the scripture tells us that God is love, and Jesus presents the nature of God to human beings. Obeying the commands of God through Jesus helps Christians to overcome challenges on earth and await […]
Retention of Youth by Indian Church of God A case study approach gives a chance to assess how strong the impact of the Indian Church of God is and to evaluate the role of individual members of the church, in particular, the senior […]
Promoting Social Justice Through Serving God Therefore, serving God in action correlates with the promotion of social justice and reflects the importance of Christian teachings about kindness towards others.
The Search for God in the Economic World A person can share with others and donate personal savings, but neither the Bible nor other Christian scriptures have ever mentioned the amount of money as an adequate objective to follow.
Religious View of the God Judgement It can be argued that the Lord is the supervisor; once there is doubt about the existence of this guard, a man who is a potential malefactor is capable of anything.
The Work “Engaging God’s World as Christian Thinkers” by Daniel R. Spanjer Spanjer discusses what tools are the most valuable to use in the initial consideration of the world around. The main idea of this chapter, therefore, is the need to understand the laws of the subject […]
God’s Doctrine Through His Wrath and Love The inconsistency in the interpretation is reflected in the depiction of the divine wrath in the Old Testament and the New Testament, and the burning rage against sinners in the Old Covenant frequently prevents people […]
Why We Have Good Reason to Believe in God The question of the validity of belief in God, no matter how it may seem beaten at first glance, is very actively discussed in the modern analytical philosophy of religion and the related sciences.
The Believer’s Body as God’s Temple The Bible is one of the most popular books in the world, which is the primary source and rule of faith.
Davidic Covenant and God’s Promises in Abrahamic Covenant The God-appointed portion of Judah is described as covering most of the southern portion of the Land of Israel, including Jerusalem, the desert of Zin, and the Negev.
A Theological View on God and Religion in Creating Legal Laws Moral laws should base on God’s commands because; God is the giver of universal objectivity of morality, God gives the ultimate justice, and God is the creator and giver of all human knowledge.
The Image of God According to Jewish Bible With that said, Middlemas argues that the form of God is not fixed in a likeness of a man, rejecting both the gendered aspect and the overall humanlike presentation.
God’s Love, Evil and Rebellion: Critical Philosophical Analysis Everyone believes in the power of a higher being, and to most of us, God is the greatest of all, the creator of all that exists.
“The Prophets, the Priesthood, and the Image of God (Gen 1, 26-27)”: Article Analysis Then, Middlemas summarizes the used strategies in two groups and argues that even those texts that liken God to a human use two genders, which strengthens the aniconic interpretation.
God of the Bible From a Psychological Perspective The discussion of importance and impact of the story of resurrection is the main theme discussed during the resurrection Sundays every year.
God’s Existence: René Descartes’ “Meditations on First Philosophy” He comes to the thesis that the doubt in the reality of perception testifies to the consciousness and existence of a person and that the features of human nature evidence God’s existence.
Elie Wiesel – The Holocaust and His Quest for God Elie lost his mother to the Holocaust. His sister also died at this time. It is made more painful by the fact that he never saw his family members dead or dying.
Discipleship in Christianity: Giving God Your Best For one to attain the full status of a disciple, he has to be curious about the Word of the Lord, be convinced then get fully committed to living in the ways of the Lord.
Perspectives of Believing in God According to Booker, it is believed that God is the sole provider of everything including air that people inhale, properties people own, and even families owned by different people.
How the God Communicates With the Mankind It is the responsibility of Christians to communicate to both fellow Christian and non-Christians as the only way of passing the good news to God’s people.
“Is God a Christian?” Book by Raleigh Kirby Godsey The writer considers serious issues about human comprehension of the idea of truth, the origination of a strict perspective, and the idea of adherents’ responsibility.
Does God Exist?: The Believer and the Atheist Dialogue By doing so, you will get “the idea of the existence of a supreme being that is perfect, through necessary existence”.
Christ’s Entry Into Jerusalem: The Glory of God The author made a miracle of a work to make people believe in the reality of the action in the picture.
Religion: Christians’ Belief in God So, in essence, he might take such turbulent times as a test of faith since the belief in the existence of God lies within the affirmation that God is in all things that we encounter.
Critical Reflection on Different Viewpoints to the Existence of God At the beginning of each day, as one awakens from slumber, the first thing that comes to mind is not a philosophical idea with regards to the existence of God but the absorption of the […]
The Different Definitions of the Phrase “Playing God” In this vein, let us assume that the meaning here is doing something that is ethically beyond the purview of a human being.
Celie: Character Development and Perception of God The life of the black country girl Celie, the main character of the novel The Color Purple, is invisible against the background of world history.
“God in You” by Dr. David Jeremiah Jeremiah’s book is to inspire Christians to embrace the significance in the teachings and practice of Christianity through the Spirit of God, the author emphasizes the importance of the Spirit by listing how the Spirit […]
The Idea of God Is Either a Fact, Like Sand, or a Fantasy, Like Santa The latter refers to the force-majeure or acts of God when the pain and suffering of living creatures are outside the power of any human being.
Announcing the Reign of God by Mortimer Arais The book on the question is and entitled Announcing the Reign of God: Evangelization and the Subversive Memory of Jesus and it is written by Mortimer Arais.
Bush on God: Bushisms From a Satirical Point of View According to the latest news, more and more people believe in the coming of the new Prophet. The witnesses claim, he was receiving a new message from the God at that moment.
Analysis of God’s Existence: Proving of Existence or Non-existence Whereas Nagel claimed that “The existence of an omnipotent, omniscient, and omnibenevolent God is thus postulated as a necessary condition for the possibility of a moral life” but he immediately contradicts existence of God putting […]
Lartey’s Postcolonializing God: An African Practical Theology Emmaneul Lartey’s Postcolonializing God: An African Practical Theology consists of six chapters that are accompanied by the author’s comments, elucidations, and demonstrative examples, testifying to the importance and adequacy of Lartey’s approach to the African […]
Engagement of Jonathan Edwards’ Sermon Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God With the Christian Ideology His sermon Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God is an emotional appeal to turn back to the traditional for the pioneer’s strict postulates of the religion.
Teleological Argument for God’s Existence According to Paley and Humes Critique Each piece working together with the other pieces to accomplish a variety of tasks although not perfect…”the purpose of the machinery, the design and the designer might be evident and in the case supposed, would […]
The Emerging Feminism in India and Their Views on God as a Feminist However, among the explanation of the cause of the phenomenon for this lack of agreement is the tendency for people to define religion too narrowly, and in most cases from the perspective of their own […]
David Is a Man by God’s Heart: Life and Humility This was occasioned by the pain he had due to the quagmire that accosted his family. Summarily, these are some of the reasons that prompted God’s reference to David as a man after His heart.
God and Darwin’s Evolution Theory: A Theological Approach The descent of God reiterates the theology of evolution in which Jesus postulates himself as a slave and not as God. Hence this makes the theology of nature and the essence of the entirety of […]
Defining God Into Existence: By the Philosophical and Religious Beliefs It is a strong aspect that is in the article.”Defining God into existence” is an article that attempts to define God in relation to apophatic teachings of the “via negativa”.
“A Question of God: Selected Poems” by Andtew Jantz: Main Aspects The denial of the truth is probably because of the complexities that the world is finding in reading the bible which is due to a lack of patience.
The Main Discussion Themes in Podcast Asteroids, Stars, and the Love of God This podcast presented an interesting discussion on a number of important issues, but three of them, namely, the relationship between science and religion, the indeterminism of the universe, and ignorance in science and religion, were […]
Defining God: The Arguments of Elizabeth Johnson As mentioned by Johnson, women’s influence is already felt in different aspects of religion and, particularly, in the one dealing with the “central issue of the image and concept of the divine, the One who […]
Human Enhancement: Coady’s Passage on Accusations of Playing God This paper critically comments on Coady’s passage on accusations of playing God normally focused on the secular agents by the predominant religious leaders and the possibility of the trend shifting back to the religious leaders.
Secular World and God’s Detects on Dating and Mating Process According to the rules and traditions of contemporary life, most young and immature people believe that dating is the best way to express attitude, develop understanding, and establish a firm ground for further relationships.
Descartes and Existance of God: Thoughts in a Jar This is where he manages to convince himself that the only reasonable explanation for “the perfect idea of perfection” is God: By the name of God I understand a substance that is infinite, independent, all-knowing, […]
Existence of God: The Theories Review Over the years, there have been opinions over the existence of a supreme being, with the power that surpasses all wisdom and mankind.
Pope and Montesquieu: Humanity and God Existence The works of both Pope and Montesquieu contain the ideas of humanity, existence of God and part of a man in the life of the society.
God and Human Sexuality: Changes in Culture and Morality In the Sermon on the Mount, for example, he stresses the return to the original purpose of the Old Testament law which can be fulfilled not just by refraining from murder, adultery, and false oaths, […]
Who God Is and What Relationship Exists in Man and God This section of the paper aims to highlight some of the arguments by thinkers on who God is and the definition of the relationship between God and man.
Anselm: Ontological Argument for the God’s Existence He considers the understanding of God’s existence as some of the things that exist in the stated place. He states that the love for God is the main aspect of the just among the human […]
Blaise Pascal: The Question of God’s Existence And if people do not have strong arguments that can support his or her idea it is better not to come into debate.”The right thing is not to wager at all”.
God’s Great Promises to Human Beings The book of acts was written by Apostle Paul with the greater intention s of creating a realistic understanding of the word of God and the promises he made as it was portrayed through the […]
Descartes “Two Proofs for the Existence of God” He does not satisfactorily give justification of his claim that the relationship between the truth of the idea objective and the recognized truth of the event that brings about the idea is direct.
Myths of Male Devine: Knowledge About God Biology is relegated to the backseat and the role of women in procreation is rubbished by these myths. In some communities, the status of a man is equal to that of a god or a […]
God and Darwin in the Science Classroom: Whither Student Beliefs? In February this year, Moore and Cotner published in The American Biology Teacher the results of a college student survey that revealed the continuing chasm between evolution theory and creationism in the high school science […]
The Gagging of God: History of Religion The disparity in religious beliefs has created a wide range of gulf among the individuals, though all religions strongly believe that God is the Lord of the Empyrean and has complete command over the past, […]
Wittgenstein: It Is Irrational to Believe in God In the case in which there is a problem, on the other hand, it seems absurd to suppose that activity either is or is not a game and that whether it is can be ascertained […]
The God’s Existence: Cosmological Proof In such a way Aquinas led to a conclusion that there is a thing that is beyond the characteristic of merely possible to exist; a thing which existence is a necessity not a possibility.
Reasonability of Believing in God’s Existence Moreover, another proof of the reasonability of believing in God’s existence is the fact that billions of people are united by this belief.
Different Descriptions of the Kingdom of God In using metaphors, The Kingdom of God as a model taught by Jesus can bring nearer the idea that the Kingdom is above the time and place.
Augustine and Boethius on the Role of God The kingdom of God has thus come and is present in the Church despite the fact that the Church is to be purified, at the Final Judgment, of the tares that now grow within it.
Understanding the Nature of God The idea of considering the traditional definition of God as the being that cannot be comprehended allows altering the theological understanding of the Creator.
Anubis: The Statuette of the Egyptian God The mission of Anubis was to guide the souls of the recently dead people through the underworld. This art object is masterfully carved and color-coded, especially the clothing of Anubis that has a rhombus pattern.
Experiences in the Boat and God’s Grandeur The narrator got used to his father so much that he even woke up in the middle of the night or at four in the morning.
God, Others and Self: Catholic Morality It is necessary to note that Christian ethics is a crucial part of the Christian religion that defines appropriate and wrong behaviors, and is based on several sources.
Philosophy. Existence of God: Moral Arguments However, the natural universe is characterized by gigantic, complex, and fascinating features compared to those of the artificial world. This means that there is no conclusion to a single creator of the universe.
God, People, Self-Identity in the “Jesus” Movie One of the most memorable descriptions of God by Jesus, as seen in the film, is that according to Christ, God’s ways are counterintuitive and one may never cease to experience the sensation of humility […]
The Message to Think of Jesus as God Ye that travailest to keep the good spirits at the hard times; though that hath stood the times of lament and cry; ye that hath no fear for anything but the Wrath of God, are […]
Gregory Jones: Question of God Jones states that living with a merciful heart and god-like compassion is the answer to the deepest question of god of how to accept all the horrors of life and sustain hope and belief in […]
Ontological Proof of God’s Existence It is because other marvelous things that cannot be conceived can either be an object or not specifically God, as the argument claims.
Religious Experience as the God Existence Argument These experiences which are known as religious experiences are held to differ from ordinary experiences in that what is experienced is taken by the person to be some supernatural being or presence, a being related […]
God and Problem of Evil in Johnson’s Philosophy As for the moral features of God, it is possible to assume that he is evil since he causes many evil events.
The Philosophy Arguments of God Existence He argues that human beings may not know the identity or the capability of the being that made the watch, but this does not negate the very existence of that being.
The Household of God: The Nature of the Church The book “The Household of God: Lecture on the Nature of the Church” written by Newbigin in 1953 explores the history of Christendom to understand and explain the meaning of the word ‘church.’ The author […]
Marketing Challenge Encountered by Assemblies of God The supporters of the Assemblies of God view the Bible as the word of God, being a sufficient guide for the faith and actions of a person.
Job’s Suffering and God’s Response The fact is, Job chooses to challenge the existing rules due to the visible unfairness of his suffering. Overall, the question that is raised by the Book of Job is whether we know how to […]
Theories of the God Existence and Ethics This theory argues that God’s existence through the very definition of God and the fact that people try to argue about this shows that indeed God exists.
God in “On Being an Atheist” by H. J. McCloskey According to Evans Stephen and Manis Zachary, the existence of a contingent being who does not have an explanation of his or her own existence and argues that he is the cause of the contingent […]
Nature, Degree and Words of God The purpose of this essay is to investigate the nature, degree, and words of God in order to explain His true nature.
Testing a Person for His Faith and Devotion to God Suffering is usually perceived as a negative experience since it is commonly believed that it is a punishment for the sinner.
The Battle for God: Fundamentalism in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam The Battle for God: Fundamentalism in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam book by Karen Armstrong, is one of the most attractive, readable, and concise books on the emergence of fundamentalism in the three faiths.
Teleological Argument for God’s Existence That is, in their strive to prove the existence of God, theologians mainly operate with the categories of logic, which in turn is expected to legitimize the validity of the would-be obtained insights into the […]
God Images and Relationship with Him For instance, an African American, whose image of God is that of a white person, may feel alienated and might believe that s/he is not necessarily a ‘child of God’ because of the difference between […]
Dr. Collins’ Views on the Existence of God The presence of hardship and suffering is not evidence that God does not exist, rather it is evidence that the world, as we know it, is full of challenges and that the only way to […]
Thomas Aquinas: Morality and God As the matter of fact, the fourth argument has the moral aspect that shows the Aquinas’s attitude towards the relationship between the God and morality.
William Paley’s Natural Theology Paley’s argument on the existence of God, the way he compares and contrasts God and his creation with a watch and a watchmaker, is relevant and to some extent realistic.
Perfect Island Theory vs God’s Existence In summary, Descartes implies that since we do have an idea of a being that is all powerful and perfect, and since we can distinctly and clearly assign the attribute of necessarily existence to this […]
The City of God But despite the fact that the changes came very soon and caught people unawares, the bravest summoned up their courage and found the spirits to struggle against the invasion of the barbarians, their hope nestling […]
Diseases and Disasters: Where Is God in All This? Each stage of the plotline is characteristic of the freedom of God as evident in his progressive revelation of himself as a faithful God who keeps promises, but on the other hand declines to put […]
Christianity and Islam: Service to God and Afterlife The structure of this paper analyzes the service to God and the perception of the afterlife, as highlights of the differences and similarities about the Christian and Islamic perceptions of life.
Eternal Life as Knowledge of God Christians believe that avoidance of sin and emulation of the life of Jesus are sufficient to create a relationship with God.
Religious Subculture: Arrow of God The interviewed member acknowledged that “the rector interviews potential members and administers the special sacrament, which is intended to bind the recruits to the oath of secrecy, religious cleanliness, and submission to the rules and […]
William Paley’s Philosophy Argument of God’s Existence The philosopher compares the creator to a watchmaker and states that the presence of design proves the existence of a designer, although some of his ideas and statements fail to pass a logical approach.
The God’s World Creation Story With respect to the first chapters of Genesis, Hamilton posits, “…the battle lines are drawn between the interpretation of the creation story and scientific knowledge about the origin of the earth and mankind”.
Can God and Real Evil Be Reconciled? Despite the fact that God and the Evil are traditionally opposed in Christianity, the only possible way of handling the evil should be viewed through the reconciliation of the two, since the former, as the […]
Logical Contradiction Between the Existence of God and Evil A majority of the people believe that the presence of wickedness and misery in the world, is the first evidence to the inexistence of God. In essence, this argument proves that it is not easy […]
On God and Christ When reading through the work of Saint Paul, it can be seen that his style of writing/ delivery of certain aspects of religious introspection were somewhat “limited” in that he placed a greater degree of […]
Spiritual Warfare: The Battle for God’s Glory In the next two chapters of the book, the author looks at the battle between the flesh and spirit, which is the third tool used by the enemy in spiritual warfare.
Acts of God to Earth science system and the shift from Growth Paradigm to Sustainability Paradigm In this paper, a comprehensive comparison of the two scientific shifts is developed to enhance knowledge in the shift from growth paradigm to sustainability paradigm, attempting to predict the time needed for the world to […]
What do Lonergan, Loewe, and Miller Say About the Mysteries of God and the Human Person To explain the character of the relations between the man and God, it is necessary to answer the question of God’s mysteries and the nature of the human person with references to Lonergan, Loewe, and […]
The interview by Francis Collins on The Language of GOD While religion and science cannot be disentangled from the reality of God and creation, there is a sharp contrast between scientific discoveries and most of the biblical doctrines. It is the worst form of criticism […]
Hick allegations on how a perfect God might allow evil To use Hick’s allegations on the existence of evil as a plan of God is confusing to Christians. It is in this view that Hick traces back the reason of sinning to God.
Development of the God Concept in Children These spiritual pillars are shown to these children to ensure that they are pure in their minds and their hearts in their daily activities according to the wishes and will of God.
Analysis of No God but God by Reza Aslan and Formations of Persecuting Society by Richard Moore Aslan, however, vouches for a situation where Islam and democracy can exist hand in hand in such a way that only Islam stays in the background to guide on the moral and religious aspects as […]
Religion and God on the Brain The investigations conducted by Benson and the team of sophisticated scientists are based on the fact that intercessory prayer may influence the process of recovery in a variety of ways.
Bernard Clairvaux’s Reasons to Love God We have a debt to love God because of His unconditional love for us, His will to draw us closer to Him while we are still sinners and His work in our lives even when […]
Luther: man between God and the Devil In the preface, one gets the impression that Oberman does not give religion or the state of the society as much weight as a factor that affected Luther’s life.
Traditional Conception of God This is one of the assumptions that can be made. This is one of the limitations that can be identified.
A Critical Review of The Realm of God’s Providence from the Arminian and Calvinist Perspectives
Spinoza’s Views on God
The Ontological Argument to Prove God’s Existence
The Downfall of Pentheus: The Clash of a Monarch and a God
The mysteries of God and a Human Being
Concept of morals and the existence of God
God in Christianity: Theology and Philosophy
The Word of God Scripture
God and Piety: The Euthyphro Problem
How Treated the Word of God in the Old and New Testaments
An Interpretation of the Phrase ‘Jesus: The Son of God’
God’s Election: Ministry and Christian Development
Descartes’ Concept of God
The Search Continues: Who Is God?
Is Jesus Christ God?
This Text and not That Text Is the Complete and Total Words of God
The Sovereignty Goodness of God
St. Anselm’s Ontological Proof of God
Difficult Gospel: God’s True Love to Mankind
Morality Is Rooted in the Character of God
God Overreact and Floods the World by Alan Dershowitz
Christianity, Islam, and Judaism Perspectives on God
Debate Over God’s Existence
Leave it Empty: Existence of God and Evil
Philosophy of Religion: Argument According to Pascal’s Wager on the Belief in God
God is responsible for the continuation of evil
Hick’s Theory of the Attitude Towards God and Sin
The Existence Debate and How It Relates To God
God and People’s Suffering
Is Anselm right in asserting God’s existence is necessary?
The God of Small Things
Comparative Analysis of the View of God, Jesus, and Salvation among Adoptionists and Gnostics
Is Hick Right That the Project of Soul-Making Explains How a Perfect God Might Allow Evil?
Repentance and sincerity to God
Intelligence and God Existence
Change in Wiesel’s Understanding of God
God Definition by Muslims, Christians, Atheists and Rastafarians
Judaism; The Covenant Between God and Israel
God and Holy Scriptures
The Belief in God
Wiesel’s Changing Understanding of God
Betting on God’s Existence
Critical Evaluation of Self, God and Other Philosophical Phenomena
Early Sufi Women: Perfect Union With God
What is the Real Relationship between Jesus and God? The Bottom-Line Between God the Son and God the Father
God Theory: An Evaluation of Debate on Existence of God
Nietzsche: Death of God
Evidence that God exists
The Question of God’s Existence from the Viewpoints of William Paley and David Hume
Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God
Do I Need God to be Moral or Happy?
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Chicago (N-B)

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Moral Arguments for the Existence of God

Moral arguments for God’s existence form a diverse family of arguments that reason from some feature of morality or the moral life to the existence of God, usually understood as a morally good creator of the universe. Moral arguments are both important and interesting. They are interesting because evaluating their soundness requires attention to practically every important philosophical issue dealt with in metaethics. They are important because of their prominence in popular apologetic arguments for religious belief. Evidence for this can be found in the amazing popularity of C. S. Lewis’s Mere Christianity (1952), which is almost certainly the best-selling book of apologetics in the twentieth century, and which begins with a moral argument for God’s existence. Many ordinary people regard religion as in some way providing a basis or foundation for morality. This fact might seem to favor religious arguments for morality rather than moral arguments for religious belief, but if someone believes that morality is in some way “objective” or “real,” and that this moral reality requires explanation, moral arguments for God’s reality naturally suggest themselves. The apparent connection between morality and religion appears to many people to support the claim that moral truths require a religious foundation, or can best be explained by God’s existence, or some qualities or actions of God.

After some general comments about theistic arguments and a brief history of moral arguments, this essay will discuss several different forms of the moral argument. A major distinction is that between moral arguments that are theoretical in nature and practical or pragmatic arguments. The former are best thought of as arguments that begin with alleged moral facts and argue that God is necessary to explain those facts, or at least that God provides a better explanation of them than secular accounts can offer. The latter typically begin with claims about some good or end that morality requires and argue that this end is not attainable unless God exists. Whether this distinction is hard and fast will be one of the questions to be discussed, as some argue that practical arguments by themselves cannot be the basis of rational belief. To meet such concerns practical arguments may have to include a theoretical dimension as well.

1. The Goals of Theistic Arguments

2. history of moral arguments for god’s existence, 3. theoretical moral arguments for god’s existence and divine command theories of moral obligation, 4. arguments from moral knowledge or awareness, 5. arguments from human dignity or worth, 6. practical moral arguments for belief in god, 7. conclusion, other internet resources, related entries.

Before attempting to explain and assess moral arguments for the existence of God, it would be helpful to have some perspective on the goals of arguments for God’s existence. (We shall generically term arguments for God’s existence “theistic arguments.”) Of course views about this are diverse, but most contemporary proponents of such arguments do not see theistic arguments as attempted “proofs,” in the sense that they are supposed to provide valid arguments with premises that no reasonable person could deny. Such a standard of achievement would clearly be setting the bar for success very high, and proponents of theistic arguments rightly note that philosophical arguments for interesting conclusions in any field outside of formal logic hardly ever reach such a standard.

More reasonable questions to ask about theistic arguments would seem to be the following: Are there valid arguments for the conclusion that God exists that have premises that are known or reasonably believed by some people? Are the premises of such arguments more reasonable than their denials, at least for some reasonable people? Arguments that meet these standards could have value in making belief in God reasonable for some people, or even giving some people knowledge of God’s existence, even if it turns out that some of the premises of the arguments can be reasonably denied by other people, and thus that the arguments fail as proofs.

A major issue that cannot be settled here concerns the question of where the burden of proof lies with respect to theistic arguments. Many secular philosophers follow Antony Flew (1976) in holding that there is a “presumption of atheism.” On this view, believing in God is like believing in the Loch Ness Monster or leprechauns, something that reasonable people do not do without sufficient evidence. If such evidence is lacking, the proper stance is atheism rather than agnosticism.

This “presumption of atheism” has been challenged in a number of ways. Alvin Plantinga (2000) has argued that reasonable belief in God does not have to be based on propositional evidence, but can be “properly basic.” On this view, reasonable belief in God can be the outcome of a basic faculty (called the sensus divinitatis by theologian John Calvin) and thus needs no support from arguments at all. In response some would argue that even if theistic belief is not grounded in propositional evidence, it still might require non-propositional evidence (such as experience), so it is not clear that Plantinga’s view by itself removes the burden of proof challenge.

A second way to challenge the presumption of atheism is to question an implicit assumption made by those who defend such a presumption, which is that belief in God is epistemologically more risky than unbelief. The assumption might be defended in the following way: One might think that theists and atheists share a belief in many entities: atoms, middle-sized physical objects, animals, and stars, for example. Someone, however, who believes in leprechauns or sea monsters in addition to these commonly accepted objects thereby incurs a burden of proof. Such a person believes in “one additional thing” and thus seems to incur additional epistemological risk. One might think that belief in God is relevantly like belief in a leprechaun or sea monster, and thus that the theist also bears an additional burden of proof. Without good evidence in favor of belief in God the safe option is to refrain from belief.

However, the theist may hold that this account does not accurately represent the situation. Instead, the theist may argue that the debate between atheism and theism is not simply an argument about whether “one more thing” exists in the world. In fact, God is not to be understood as an entity in the world at all; any such entity would by definition not be God. The debate is rather a debate about the character of the universe. The theist believes that every object in the natural world exists because God creates and conserves that object; every finite thing has the character of being dependent on God. The atheist denies this and affirms that the basic entities in the natural world have the character of existing “on their own.”

If this is the right way to think about the debate, then it is not obvious that atheism is safer than theism. The debate is not about the existence of one object, but the character of the universe as a whole. Both parties are making claims about the character of everything in the natural world, and both claims seem risky. This point is especially important in dealing with moral arguments for theism, since one of the questions raised by such arguments is the adequacy of a naturalistic worldview in explaining morality. Such accounts need to explain without watering the categories of morality down or otherwise domesticating them and thereby depriving them of their most interesting features. Evidentialists may properly ask about the evidence for theism, but it also seems proper to ask about the evidence for atheism if the atheist is committed to a rival metaphysic such as naturalism.

Something that resembles a moral argument for God’s existence, or at least an argument from value, can be found in the fourth of Thomas Aquinas’s “Five Ways” (Aquinas 1265–1274, I, 1, 3). Aquinas there begins with the claim that among beings who possess such qualities as “good, true, and noble” there are gradations. Presumably he means that some things that are good are better than other good things; perhaps some noble people are nobler than others who are noble. In effect Aquinas is claiming that when we “grade” things in this way we are, at least implicitly, comparing them to some absolute standard. Aquinas believes this standard cannot be merely “ideal” or “hypothetical,” and thus this gradation is only possible if there is some being which has this quality to a “maximum” extent: “so that there is something which is truest, something best, something noblest and, consequently, something which is uttermost being; for those things that are greatest in truth are greatest in being, as it is written in Metaph. Ii.” Aquinas goes on to affirm that this being which provides the standard is also the cause or explanation of the existence of these qualities, and such a cause must be God. Obviously, this argument draws deeply on Platonic and Aristotelian assumptions that are no longer widely held by philosophers. For the argument to be plausible today, such assumptions would have to be defended, or else the argument reformulated in a way that frees it from its original metaphysical home.

Probably the most influential versions of the moral argument for belief in God can be traced to Kant (1788 [1956]), who famously argued that the theoretical arguments for God’s existence were unsuccessful, but presented a rational argument for belief in God as a “postulate of practical reason.” Kant held that a rational, moral being must necessarily will “the highest good,” which consists of a world in which people are both morally good and happy, and in which moral virtue is the condition for happiness. The latter condition implies that this end must be sought solely by moral action. However, Kant held that a person cannot rationally will such an end without believing that moral actions can successfully achieve such an end, and this requires a belief that the causal structure of nature is conducive to the achievement of this end by moral means. This is equivalent to belief in God, a moral being who is ultimately responsible for the character of the natural world. Kant’s arguments will be discussed later in this article.

Kant-inspired arguments were prominent in the nineteenth century, and continued to be important right up to the middle of the twentieth century. Such arguments can be found, for example, in W. R. Sorley (1918), Hastings Rashdall (1920), and A. E. Taylor (1945/1930). Although Henry Sidgwick was not himself a proponent of a moral argument for God’s existence, some have argued that his thought presents the materials for such an argument (see Walls and Baggett 2011). In the nineteenth century John Henry Newman (1870) also made good use of a moral argument in his case for belief in God, developing what could be called an argument from conscience.

Besides those luminaries from the history of the moral argument, several other figures made contributions of various sorts to the discussion, including Arthur Balfour (1915), Andrew Seth Pringle-Pattison (1920), Clement Webb (2012), W. G. de Burgh (1938), W. R. Matthews (1921), Austin Farrer (2012), and H. P. Owen (1965). A chronicle of much of this history was published by Walls and Baggett (2019). Recovering such history is a helpful antidote to the ahistorical character of much contemporary analytic philosophy.

In recent philosophy there has been a revival of divine command metaethical theories, which has in turn led to new versions of the moral argument found in such thinkers as Robert Adams (1987), John Hare (1996), and C. Stephen Evans (2010). Work on divine command theory, both in favor and against, has experienced a recent resurgence of interest. This work has encompassed both motivations for and formulations of divine command theory, as well as extensive discussion of both old and new objections to it.

However, it is important to see that there are versions of the moral argument for God’s existence that are completely independent of such a divine command theory, and this possibility can be seen in arguments developed by Angus Ritchie (2012) and Mark Linville (2009). Perhaps the most extensive and developed account of a moral argument for God’s existence in recent philosophy is found in David Baggett and Jerry L. Walls (2016). This book examines a comprehensive cumulative form of moral argument and extensively explores underlying issues. It goes without saying that these renewed arguments have engendered new criticisms as well. Theoretical moral arguments for God’s existence can be understood as variations on the following template:

There are objective moral facts.
God provides the best explanation of the existence of objective moral facts.
Therefore, (probably) God exists.

As we shall see, there are a variety of features of morality that can be appealed to in the first steps of the arguments, as well as a variety of ways in which God might be thought to provide an explanation of those features in the second steps. The use of the somewhat vague phrase “objective moral facts” is intended to allow for this variety in Premise 1. The similarly vague notion of God providing the best explanation of such facts allows for the variety of ways moral features may depend on God—divine commands one salient option among them. Both types of premises are obviously open to challenge. For example, the first premise of such an argument can be challenged by popular metaethical views that see morality as “subjective,” or “expressive,” rather than something that consists of objective facts. Moral skeptics and “error theorists” also challenge the first premise. The second premise can be challenged on the basis of rival explanations of the features of morality, explanations that do not require God. Arguments about the second premise then may require comparison between theistic explanations of morality and these rival views, with an attentive eye on the relevant evidence in need of explanation.

It is easy to see then that the proponent of a moral argument has a complex task: She must defend the reality and objectivity of the feature of morality appealed to, but also defend the claim that this feature can be best explained by God. The second part of the task may require not only demonstrating the strengths of a theistic explanation, but pointing out weaknesses in rival secular explanations as well. Both parts of the task are essential, but it is worth noting that the two components cannot be accomplished simultaneously. The theist must defend the reality of morality against subjectivists, constructivists, and “moral nihilists.” Assuming that this task has been carried out, the theist must then try to show that morality thus understood requires or at least is most plausibly understood by a theistic explanation.

It is interesting to observe, however, that with respect to both parts of the task, the theist may enlist non-theists as allies. The theist may well make common cause with ethical naturalists as well as ethical non-naturalists in defending moral realism against “projective” theories such as expressivism. However, the theist may also enlist the support of error theorists such as J. L. Mackie (1977), and moral nihilists such as Friedrich Nietzsche (1887) in arguing that God is necessary for objective morality. Nietzsche, for example, explicitly holds that God does not exist, but also claims that God’s non-existence undermines the reality of traditional western morality. The fact that theists can enlist such unlikely allies does not mean the moral argument for God’s existence is sound, but it does suggest that the argument is not obviously question-begging, since both premises are sometimes accepted by (different) non-believers.

One easily understandable version of a theistic moral argument relies on an analogy between human laws promulgated by nation-states and moral laws. Sovereign states enact laws that make certain acts forbidden or required. If I am a U. S. citizen, and I earn more than a small amount of money I am obligated to file an income tax return each year. I am also forbidden, because of the laws that hold in the United States, to discriminate in hiring on the basis of sex, age, or race. Many people believe that there are moral laws that bind individuals in the same way that political laws do. I am obligated by a moral principle not to lie to others, and I am similarly obligated to keep promises that I have made. (Both legal and moral laws may be understood as holding prima facie , so that in some situations a person must violate one law in order to obey a more important one.)

We know how human laws come into existence. They are enacted by legislatures (or absolute monarchs in some countries) who have the authority to pass such laws. How then should the existence of moral laws be explained? It seems plausible to many to hold that they must be similarly grounded in some appropriate authority, and the or best candidate to fulfill this role is God. Some philosophers have dismissed an argument of this type as “crude,” presumably because its force is so obvious that no special philosophical training is necessary to understand it and see its appeal. The fact that one can understand the argument without much in the way of philosophical skill is not necessarily a defect, however. If one supposes that there is a God, and that God wants humans to know him and relate to him, one would expect God to make his reality known to humans in very obvious ways (See Evans 2010). After all, critics of theistic belief, such as J. L. Schellenberg (1993), have argued that the fact that God’s reality is not obvious to those who would like to believe in God is a grave problem. If an awareness of moral obligations is in fact an awareness of God’s commands or divine laws, then the ordinary person who is aware of moral obligations does have a kind of awareness of God. Of course such a person might be aware of God’s laws without realizing that they are God’s laws; she might be aware of God’s commands without being aware of them under that description. The religious apologist might view such a person as already having a kind of de re awareness of God, because a moral obligation is simply an expression of God’s will (or God’s command or motivation, preference or desire).

How can such an awareness be converted into full-fledged belief in God? One way of doing this would be to help the person gain the skills needed to recognize moral laws as what they are, as divine commands or divine laws. If moral laws are experienced, then moral experience could be viewed as a kind of religious experience or at least a proto-religious experience. Perhaps someone who has experience of God in this way does not need a moral argument (or any kind of argument) to have a reasonable belief in God. This may be one instance of the kind of case that Alvin Plantinga (2000) and the “Reformed epistemologists” have in mind when they claim that belief in God can be “properly basic.” It is worth noting then that there could be such a thing as knowledge of God that is rooted in moral experience without that knowledge being the result of a moral argument .

Even if that is the case, however, a moral argument could still play a valuable role. Such an argument might be one way of helping an individual understand that moral obligations are in fact divine commands or laws. Even if it were true that some ordinary people might know that God exists without argument, an argument could be helpful in defending the claim that this is the case. A person might conceivably need an argument for the second-level claim that the person knows God without argument.

In any case a divine command metaethical theory provides the material for such an argument. The revival of divine command theories (DCT) of moral obligation is due mainly to the work of Philip Quinn (1979/1978) and Robert Adams (1999). Adams’ version of a DCT has been particularly influential and is well-suited for the defense of the claim that moral knowledge can provide knowledge of God. Adams’ version of a DCT is an account of moral obligations and it must be distinguished from more general “voluntarist” views of ethics that try to treat other moral properties (such as the good) as dependent on God’s will. As explained below, by limiting the theory to obligations, Adams avoids the standard “ Euthyphro ” objection, which claims that divine command views reduce ethics to arbitrariness.

Adams’ account of moral obligations as divine commands rests on a more general social theory of obligations. There are of course many types of obligations: legal obligations, financial obligations, obligations of etiquette, and obligations that hold in virtue of belonging to some club or association, to name just a few. Clearly these obligations are distinct from moral obligations, since in some cases moral obligations can conflict with these other kinds. What is distinctive about obligations in general? They are not reducible simply to normative claims about what a person has a good reason to do.

J. S. Mill (1874, 164–165) argued that we can explain normative principles without making any reference to God. He contends that the “feeling of obligation” stems from “something that the internal conscience bears witness to in its own nature,” and thus the moral law, unlike human laws, “does not originate in the will of a legislator or legislature external to the mind.” Doubtless Mill had in mind here such normative logical principles as “it is wrong to believe both p and not-p at the same time.” Mill argues that such normative principles hold without any requirement for an “authority” to be their ground, and he thinks this is plausible for the case of moral principles as well. Mill’s view is plausible at least for some normative principles, though some theists have argued that metaphysical naturalists have difficulty in explaining any kind of normativity (see Devine 1989, 88–89). However, even if Mill is correct about normativity in general, it does not follow that his view is correct for moral obligations, which have a special character. An obligation has a special kind of force; we should care about complying with it, and violations of obligations appropriately incur blame (Adams 1999, 235). If I make a logical mistake, I may feel silly or stupid or embarrassed, but I have no reason to feel guilty, unless the mistake reflects some carelessness on my part that itself constitutes a violation of a moral obligation. Adams argues that “facts of obligation are constituted by broadly social requirements.” (ibid, 233) For example, the social role of parenting is partly constituted by the obligations one assumes by becoming a parent, and the social role of citizen is partly constituted by the obligations to obey the laws of the country in which one is a citizen.

All obligations are then constituted by social requirements, according to Adams. However, not all obligations constituted by social requirements are moral obligations. What social relation could be the basis of moral obligations? Adams argues that not just any human social relation will possess the requisite authority: “A morally valid obligation obviously will not be constituted by just any demand sponsored by a system of social relationships that one in fact values. Some such demands have no moral force, and some social systems are downright evil.” (ibid, 242) If a good and loving God exists and has created all humans, then the social relation humans have to God has the right features to explain moral obligations. For if moral obligations stem from God’s requirements, they will be objective, but they will also be motivating, since a relation to God would clearly be a great good that humans would have reason to value. Since a proper relation to God is arguably more important than any other social relation, we can also understand why moral obligations trump other kinds of obligations. On this view we can also explain why moral obligations have a transcendent character, which is important because “a genuinely moral conception of obligation must have resources for moral criticism of social systems and their demands.” (ibid, 242–243)

Notice that the DCT Adams defends in his later work is ontological rather than semantic: it is a claim that moral obligations are in fact identical with divine commands, not a claim that “moral obligations” has the same meaning as “divine commands.” On his account, applying the work of direct reference theorists like Hilary Putnam and Saul Kripke to the arena of ethics, the meaning of “moral obligation” is fixed by the role this concept plays in our language. That role includes such facts as these: Moral obligations must be motivating and objective. They also must provide a basis for critical evaluation of other types of obligations, and they must be such that someone who violates a moral obligation is appropriately subject to blame. Adams argues that it is divine commands that best satisfy these desiderata. God’s existence thus provides the best explanation of moral obligations. If moral obligations are identical with divine commands (or perhaps if they are grounded in or caused to exist by divine commands) an argument for God’s existence from such obligations can easily be constructed:

There are objective moral obligations.
If there are objective moral obligations, there is a God who explains these obligations.
There is a God.

This argument is stated in a deductive form, but it can easily be reworded as a probabilistic “argument to the best explanation,” as follows:

God provides the best explanation of the existence of moral obligations.
Probably, God exists.

Obviously, those who do not find a DCT convincing will not think this argument from moral obligation has force. However, Adams anticipates and gives a forceful answer to one common criticism of a DCT. It is often argued that a DCT must fail because of a dilemma parallel to one derived from Plato’s Euthyphro . The dilemma for a DCT can be derived from the following question: Assuming that God commands what is right, does he command what is right because it is right (assuming that “right” here means “morally required” and not just “morally permissible.”)? If the proponent of a DCT answers affirmatively, then it appears the quality of rightness must hold antecedently to and thus independently of God’s commands. If, however, the proponent denies that God commands what is right because it is right, then God’s commands appear arbitrary. Adams’ version of a DCT evades this dilemma by invoking the good/right distinction and holding that God is essentially good and that his commands are necessarily aimed at the good. This allows Adams to claim that God’s commands make actions obligatory (or forbidden), while denying that the commands are arbitrary in any problematic sense.

Although Adams’ version of a DCT successfully meets this “ Euthyphro ” objection, there are other powerful criticisms that have been mounted against this metaethical theory in the literature. These objections can be found in the writings of Wes Morriston (2009, 2016), Erik Wielenberg (2005, especially part 3, 2014, and chapter 2, 2020), Oppy (2014, especially ch. 3), and Nicholas Wolterstorff (2007), among others. Besides arbitrariness, objections raised against DCT include autonomy objections, a variety of epistemic objections, a psychopathy objection, supervenience objections, prior obligations objection, and other Euthyphro objections, which include grounding, vacuity, and counterpossible objections.

Wielenberg explicitly defends as an alternative to divine command metaethics a view he calls “godless normative realism.” This is essentially the view that moral truths are basic or fundamental in character, not derived from natural facts or any more fundamental metaphysical facts. It thus seems similar to the view often called “ethical non-naturalism.” This view certainly provides a significant alternative to divine command metaethics. However, it is worth noting that some of the criticisms that metaphysical naturalists have against theistic metaethics may apply to Wielenberg’s view as well. Specifically, philosophers such as J. L. Mackie (1977) find non-natural ethical qualities of any kind “queer” since they are so unlike the realities discovered by science. The “brute moral facts” posited by Wielenberg as necessary truths seem vulnerable to this same criticism. In fact, the criticism may be sharper against Wielenberg’s view than against theistic views, since ethical truths may appear less odd in a universe that is ultimately grounded in a person. Responses to the objections of Wielenberg, Morriston, and others have also been given (see Evans 2013, Baggett and Walls, 2011, 2016, Flannagan, 2017, 2021a, 2021, Pruss, 2009, Davis and Franks, 2015). Clearly the version of a moral argument for God’s existence that rests on divine command theory will only be judged powerful by those who find a DCT plausible, and that will certainly be a minority of philosophers. (Although it is worth noting that no single metaethical theory seems to enjoy widespread support among philosophers, so a DCT is not alone in being a minority view.) Nevertheless, those who do find a DCT powerful will also see moral obligations as providing strong evidence for God’s reality.

A variety of arguments have been developed that God is necessary to explain human awareness of moral truth (or moral knowledge, if one believes that this moral awareness amounts to knowledge). Richard Swinburne (2004, 218), for example, argues that there is no “great probability that moral awareness will occur in a Godless universe.” On Swinburne’s view, moral truths are either necessary truths or contingent truths that are grounded in necessary truths. For example, it is obviously contingent that “It is wrong to drop an atomic bomb on Hiroshima,” since it is contingent that there exists a city such as Hiroshima. But one might hold that this proposition is true (assuming it is) because of some other truth such as “It is wrong intentionally to kill innocent humans” which does hold universally and is necessarily true. Swinburne does not think that an argument to God’s existence from moral facts as such is powerful, increasing the likelihood of theism only a little. However, the fact that we humans are aware of moral facts is itself surprising and calls for an explanation.

It may be true that creatures who belong to groups that behave altruistically will have some survival advantage over groups that lack such a trait. However, moral beliefs are not required in order to produce such behavior, since it is clear that “there are many species of animals that are naturally inclined to help others of their species, and yet do not have moral beliefs.” (Swinburne 2004, 217) If God exists, he has “significant reason to bring about conscious beings with moral awareness,” since his intended purpose for humans includes making it possible for them freely to choose good over evil, since this will make it possible for them to develop a relation to God. Swinburne does not think that this argument provides very strong evidence for God’s existence by itself, but rather that it provides some inductive support for belief in God. It is one of several phenomena which seem more probable in a theistic universe than in a godless universe. As we consider more and more such phenomena, it will be increasingly improbable that “they will all occur.” (ibid, 218) All of these inductive arguments together may then provide substantial support for theistic belief, even if no one of them by itself would be sufficient for rational belief by demonstrating that theism is likely true.

Swinburne’s version of the argument is quite brief and undeveloped, but some claims that could be used to support a more developed version of the argument (one that will be described below) can be found in a well-known and much cited article by Sharon Street (2006). Street’s argument, as the title implies, is in no way intended to support a moral argument for theism. To the contrary, her purpose is to defend anti-realist metaethical theories against realist theories that view moral truth as “stance-independent” of human attitudes and emotions. Street presents the moral realist with a dilemma posed by the question as to how our human evaluative beliefs are related to human evolution. It is clear, she believes, that evolution has strongly shaped our evaluative attitudes. The question concerns how those attitudes are related to the objective evaluative truths accepted by the realist. If the realist holds that there is no relation between such truths and our evaluative attitudes, then this implies that “most of our evaluative judgments are off track due to the distorting influence of Darwinian processes.” The other alternative for the realist is to claim that there is a relationship, and thus that is not an accident or miracle that our evaluative beliefs track the objective truths. However, this view, Street claims, is scientifically implausible. Street argues therefore that an evolutionary story about how we came to make the moral judgments we make undermines confidence in the objective truth of those judgments. Street’s argument is of course controversial and thinkers such as Erik Wielenberg (2014) have argued against evolutionary debunking arguments. Still, many regard such arguments as problematic for those who want to defend moral realism, particularly when developed as a “global” argument (Kahane, 2010).

Street’s argument has also been challenged by such critics as Russ Shafer-Landau (2012). However, her argument, and similar arguments, have been acknowledged by some moral realists, such as David Enoch (2011) and Erik Wielenberg (2014) to pose a significant problem for their view. Enoch, for example, even though he offers a response to Street’s argument, evidently has some worries about the strength of his reply. Wielenberg, to avoid the criticism that in a non-theistic universe it would be extremely lucky if evolution selected for belief in objectively true moral values, proposes that the natural laws that produce this result may be metaphysically necessary, and thus there is no element of luck. However, many philosophers will see this view of natural laws as paying a heavy price to avoid theism. It might appear that Street is arguing straightforwardly that evolutionary theory makes it improbable that humans would have objective moral knowledge. However, it is not evolution by itself that predicts the improbability of objective moral knowledge, but the conjunction of evolution and metaphysical naturalism. A good deal of the force of Street’s argument stems from the assumption that naturalism is true, and therefore that the evolutionary process is one that is unguided. Since it is not evolution by itself that poses a challenge to moral realism but the conjunction of evolution and metaphysical naturalism, then rejecting naturalism provides one way for the moral realist to solve the problem. It does appear that in a naturalistic universe we would expect a process of Darwinian evolution to select for a propensity for moral judgments that track survival and not objective moral truths. Mark Linville (2009, 391–446) has developed a detailed argument for the claim that it is difficult for metaphysical naturalists to develop a plausible evolutionary story as to how our moral judgments could have epistemological warrant. However, if we suppose that the evolutionary process has been guided by God, who has as one of his goals the creation of morally significant human creatures capable of enjoying a relation with God, then it would not seem at all accidental or even unlikely that God would ensure that humans have value beliefs that are largely correct.

Some philosophers believe that the randomness of Darwinian natural selection rules out the possibility of any kind of divine guidance being exercised through such a process. Some thinkers, including both some atheists and some proponents of what is called “creation science,” believe that evolution and God are rivals, mutually exclusive hypotheses about the origins of the natural world. What can be explained scientifically needs no religious explanation. However, this is far from obviously true; in fact, if theism is true it is clearly false. From a theistic perspective to think that God and science provide competing explanations fails to grasp the relationship between God and the natural world by conceiving of God as one more cause within that natural world. If God exists at all, God is not an entity within the natural world, but the creator of that natural world, with all of its causal processes. If God exists, God is the reason why there is a natural world and the reason for the existence of the causal processes of the natural world. In principle, therefore, a natural explanation can never preclude a theistic explanation. Any argument that natural explanations preclude or are in tension with theistic explanations will in fact be theological in character, since they will be grounded in assumptions about the kind of world God would create.

But what about the randomness that is a crucial part of the Darwinian story? The atheist might claim that because evolutionary theory posits that the process by which plants and animals have evolved is one that involves random genetic mutations, it cannot be guided, and thus God cannot have used evolutionary means to achieve his ends. However, this argument fails. It depends on an equivocation in what is meant by “random.” When scientists claim that genetic mutations are random, they do not mean that they are uncaused, or even that they are unpredictable from the point of view of biochemistry, but only that the mutations do not happen in response to the adaptational needs of the organism. It is entirely possible for a natural process to include randomness in that sense, even if the whole natural order is itself created and sustained by God. The sense of “randomness” required for evolutionary theory does not imply that the evolutionary process must be unguided. A God who is responsible for the laws of nature and the initial conditions that shape the evolutionary process could certainly ensure that the process achieved certain ends.

Like the other moral arguments for God’s existence, the argument from moral knowledge can easily be stated in a propositional form, and I believe Swinburne is right to hold that the argument is best construed as a probabilistic argument that appeals to God as providing a better explanation of moral knowledge than is possible in a naturalistic universe.

Humans possess objective moral knowledge.
Probably, if God does not exist, humans would not possess objective moral knowledge.

There is a kind of argument from moral knowledge also implicit in Angus Ritchie’s book From Morality to Metaphysics: The Theistic Implications of our Ethical Commitments (2012). Ritchie presses a kind of dilemma on non-theistic accounts of morality. Subjectivist theories such as expressivism can certainly make sense of the fact that we make the ethical judgments we do, but they empty morality of its objective authority. Objectivist theories that take morality seriously, however, have difficulty explaining our capacity to make true moral judgments, unless the process by which humans came to hold these capacities is one that is controlled by a being such as God.

The moral argument from knowledge will not be convincing to anyone who is committed to any form of expressivism or other non-objective metaethical theory, and clearly many philosophers find such views attractive. And there will surely be many philosophers who will judge that if moral objectivism implies theism or requires theism to be plausible, this is a reductio of objectivist views. Furthermore, non-theistic moral philosophers, whether naturalists or non-naturalists, have stories to tell about how moral knowledge might be possible. Nevertheless, there are real questions about the plausibility of these stories, and thus, some of those convinced that moral realism is true may judge that moral knowledge provides some support for theistic belief.

Many philosophers find Immanuel Kant’s moral philosophy still offers a fruitful approach to ethics. Of the various forms of the “categorical imperative” that Kant offers, the formula that regards human beings as “ends in themselves” is especially attractive: “Act in such a way that you always treat humanity, whether in your own person or in the person of any other, never simply as a means, but always at the same time as an end” (Kant 1785 [1964], 96). Many contemporary moral philosophers influenced by Kant, such as Christine Korsgaard (1996), see Kant as offering a “constructivist” metaethical position. Constructivism is supposed to offer a “third way” between moral realism and subjectivist views of morality. Like subjectivists, constructivists want to see morality as a human creation. However, like moral realists constructivists want to see moral questions as having objective answers. Constructivism is an attempt to develop an objective morality that is free of the metaphysical commitments of moral realism.

It is, however, controversial whether Kant himself was a constructivist in this sense. One reason to question whether this is the right way to read Kant follows from the fact that Kant himself did not see morality as free from metaphysical commitments. For example, Kant thought that it would be impossible for someone who believed that mechanistic determinism was the literal truth about himself to believe that he was a moral agent, since morality requires an autonomy that is incompatible with determinism. To see myself as a creature who has the kind of value Kant calls “dignity” I must not see myself merely as a machine-like product of the physical environment. Hence Kant thought that it was crucial for morality that his Critical Philosophy had shown that the deterministic perspective on humans is simply part of the “phenomenal world” that is the object of scientific knowledge, not the “noumenal reality” that it would be if some kind of scientific realism were the true metaphysical view. When we do science we see ourselves as determined, but science tells us only how the world appears, not how it really is. Recognizing this fact suggests that when Kant posits that humans have this intrinsic value he calls dignity, he is not “constructing” the value humans have, but recognizing the value beings of a certain kind must have. Humans can only have this kind of value if they are a particular kind of creature. Whether Kant himself was a moral realist or not, there are certainly elements in his philosophy that push in a realist direction.

If the claim that human persons have a kind of intrinsic dignity or worth is a true objective principle and if it provides a key foundational principle of morality, it is well worth asking what kinds of metaphysical implications the claim might have. This is the question that Mark Linville (2009, 417–446) pursues in the second moral argument he develops. Linville begins by noting that one could hardly hold that “human persons have intrinsic dignity” could be true if human persons do not exist. Clearly, some metaphysical positions do include a denial of the existence of human persons, such as forms of Absolute Monism which hold that only one Absolute Reality exists. However, it also seems to be the case that some forms of Scientific Naturalism are committed to the denial of “ persons as substantive selves that essentially possess a first-person point of view” (See Dennett 2006, 107). Daniel Dennett, for example, holds that persons will not be part of the ultimately true scientific account of things. Dennett holds that to think of humans as persons is simply to adopt a certain “stance” toward them that he calls the “intentional stance,” but it is clear that the kind of picture of humans we get when we think of them in this way does not correspond with their intrinsic metaphysical properties. It is not clear how systems towards which we adopt an “intentional stance” could be truly autonomous and thus have the kind of value Kant believes human persons have.

The argument from human dignity could be put into propositional form as follows:

Human persons have a special kind of intrinsic value that we call dignity.
The only (or best) explanation of the fact that humans possess dignity is that they are created by a supremely good God in God’s own image.
Probably there is a supremely good God.

A naturalist may want to challenge premise (2) by finding some other strategy to explain human dignity. Michael Martin (2002), for example, has tried to suggest that moral judgments can be analyzed as the feelings of approval or disapproval of a perfectly impartial and informed observer. Linville (2009) objects that it is not clear how the feelings of such an observer could constitute the intrinsic worth of a person, since one would think that intrinsic properties would be non-relational and mind-independent. In any case, Linville notes that a “Euthyphro” problem lurks for such an ideal observer theory, since one would think that such an observer would judge a person to be intrinsically valuable because the person has intrinsic value.

Another strategy that is pursued by constructivists such as Korsgaard is to link the value ascribed to humans to the capacity for rational reflection. The idea is that insofar as I am committed to rational reflection, I must value myself as having this capacity, and consistently value others who have it as well. A similar strategy is found in Wielenberg’s form of ethical non-naturalism, since Wielenberg argues that it is necessarily true that any being with certain reflective capacities will have moral rights (Wielenberg, 2014, chapter 4). It is far from clear that human rationality provides an adequate ground for moral rights, however. Many people believe that young infants and people suffering from dementia still have this intrinsic dignity, but in both cases there is no capacity for rational reflection.

Some support for this criticism of the attempt to see reason as the basis of the value of humans can be found in Nicholas Wolterstorff’s recent work on justice (2007, especially Ch. 8). Wolterstorff in this work defends the claim that there are natural human rights, and that violating such rights is one way of acting unjustly towards a person. Why do humans have such rights? Wolterstorff says these rights are grounded in the basic worth or dignity that humans possess. When I seek to torture or kill an innocent human I am failing to respect this worth. If one asks why we should think humans possess such worth, Wolterstorff argues that the belief that humans have this quality was not only historically produced by Jewish and Christian conceptions of the human person, but even now cannot be defended apart from such a conception. In particular, he argues that attempts to argue that our worth stems from some excellence we possess such as reason will not explain the worth of infants or those with severe brain injuries or dementia.

Does a theistic worldview fare better in explaining the special value of human dignity? In a theistic universe God is himself seen as the supreme good. Indeed, theistic Platonists usually identify God with the Good. If God is himself a person, then this seems to be a commitment to the idea that personhood itself is something that must be intrinsically good. If human persons are made in God’s image, as both Judaism and Christianity affirm, then it would seem to follow that humans do have a kind of intrinsic value, just by way of being the kind of creatures they are.

This argument will of course be found unconvincing to many. Some will deny premise (1), either because they reject moral realism as a metaethical stance, or because they reject the normative claim that humans have any kind of special value or dignity. (Maybe they will even think that such a claim is a form of “speciesism.”). Others will find premise (2) suspect. They may be inclined to agree that human persons have a special dignity, but hold that the source of that dignity can be found in such human qualities as rationality. With respect to the status of infants and those suffering from dementia, the critic might bite the bullet and just accept the fact that human dignity does not extend to them, or else argue that the fact that infants and those suffering mental breakdown are part of a species whose members typically possess rationality merits them a special respect, even if they lack this quality as individuals. Others will find premise (2) doubtful because they find the theistic explanation of dignity unclear. Another alternative is to seek a Constructivist account of dignity, perhaps regarding the special status of humans as something we humans decide to extend to each other. Perhaps the strongest non-theistic alternative would be some form of ethical non-naturalism, in which one simply affirms that the claim that persons have a special dignity is an a priori truth requiring no explanation. In effect this is a decision for a non-theistic form of Platonism.

The proponent of the argument may well agree that claims about the special status of humans are true a priori , and thus also opt for some form of Platonism. However, the proponent of the argument will point out that some necessary truths can be explained by other necessary truths. The theist believes that these truths about the special status of humans tell us something about the kind of universe humans find themselves in. To say that humans are created by God is to say that personhood is not an ephemeral or accidental feature of the universe, because at bottom reality itself is personal (Mavrodes 1986).

As already noted, the most famous and perhaps most influential version of a moral argument for belief in God is found in Immanuel Kant (1788). Kant himself insisted that his argument was not a theoretical argument, but an argument grounded in practical reason. The conclusion of the argument is not “God exists” or “God probably exists” but “I (as a rational, moral agent) ought to believe that God exists.” We shall, however, see that there are some reasons to doubt that practical arguments can be neatly separated from theoretical arguments.

Kant’s version of the argument can be stated in different ways, but perhaps the following captures one plausible interpretation of the argument. Morality is grounded in pure practical reason, and the moral agent must act on the basis of maxims that can be rationally endorsed as universal principles. Moral actions are thus not determined by results or consequences but by the maxims on which they are based. However, all actions, including moral actions, necessarily aim at ends. Kant argues that the end that moral actions aim at is the “highest good,” which is a world in which both moral virtue and happiness are maximized, with happiness contingent on virtue. For Kant “ought implies can,” and so if I have an obligation to seek the highest good, then I must believe that it is possible to achieve such an end. However, I must seek the highest good only by acting in accordance with morality; no shortcuts to happiness are permissible. This seems to require that I believe that acting in accordance with morality will be causally efficacious in achieving the highest good. However, it is reasonable to believe that moral actions will be causally efficacious in this way only if the laws of causality are set up in such a way that these laws are conducive to the efficacy of moral action. Certainly both parts of the highest good seem difficult to achieve. We humans have weaknesses in our character that appear difficult if not impossible to overcome by our own efforts. Furthermore, as creatures we have subjective needs that must be satisfied if we are happy, but we have little empirical reason to think that these needs will be satisfied by moral actions even if we succeeded in becoming virtuous. If a person believes that the natural world is simply a non-moral machine with no moral purposiveness then that person would have no reason to believe that moral action could succeed because there is no a priori reason to think moral action will achieve the highest good and little empirical reason to believe this either. Kant thus concludes that a moral agent must “postulate” the existence of God as a rational presupposition of the moral life.

One problem with this argument is that many will deny that morality requires us to seek the highest good in Kant’s sense. Even if the Kantian highest good seems reasonable as an ideal, some will object that we have no obligation to achieve such a state, but merely to work towards realizing the closest approximation to such a state that is possible (See Adams 1987, 152). Without divine assistance, perhaps perfect virtue is unachievable, but in that case we cannot be obliged to realize such a state if there is no God. Perhaps we cannot hope that happiness will be properly proportioned to virtue in the actual world if God does not exist, but then our obligation can only be to realize as much happiness as can be attained through moral means. Kant would doubtless reject this criticism, since on his view the ends of morality are given directly to pure practical reason a priori , and we are not at liberty to adjust those ends on the basis of empirical beliefs. However, few contemporary philosophers would share Kant’s confident view of reason here, and thus to many the criticism has force. Even Kant admits at one point that full-fledged belief in God is not rationally necessary, since one could conceivably seek the highest good if one merely believes that God’s existence is possible (Kant, 1781–1787, 651).

Another way of interpreting Kant’s argument puts more stress on the connection between an individual’s desire for happiness and the obligation to do what is morally right. Morality requires me to sacrifice my personal happiness if that is necessary to do what is right. Yet it is a psychological fact that humans necessarily desire their own happiness. In such a state it looks as if human moral agents will be torn by what Henry Sidgwick called the “dualism of the practical reason” (1884, 401). Reason both requires humans to seek their own happiness and to sacrifice it. Sidgwick himself noted that only if there is a God can we hope that this dualism will be resolved, so that those who seek to act morally will in the long run also be acting so as to advance their own happiness and well-being. (Interestingly, Sidgwick himself does not endorse this argument, but he clearly sees this problem as part of the appeal of theism.) A contemporary argument similar to this one has been developed by C. Stephen Layman (2002).

The critic of this form of the Kantian argument may reply that Kantian morality sees duty as something that must be done regardless of the consequences, and thus a truly moral person cannot make his or her commitment to morality contingent on the achievement of happiness. From a Kantian point of view, this reply seems right; Kant unequivocally affirms that moral actions must be done for the sake of duty and not from any desire for personal reward. Nevertheless, especially for any philosopher willing to endorse any form of eudaimonism, seeing myself as inevitably sacrificing what I cannot help but desire for the sake of duty does seem problematic. As John Hare affirms, “If we are to endorse wholeheartedly the long-term shape of our lives, we have to see this shape as consistent with our happiness” (1996, 88).

The critic may reply to this by simply accepting the lamentable fact that there is something tragic or even absurd about the human condition. The world may not be the world we wish it was, but that does not give us any reason to believe it is different from what it is. If there is a tension between the demands of morality and self-interest, then this may simply be a brute fact that must be faced.

This reply raises an issue for all forms of practical or pragmatic arguments for belief. Many philosophers insist that rational belief must be grounded solely in theoretical evidence. The fact that it would be better for me to believe p does not in itself give me any reason to believe p. This criticism is aimed not merely at Kant, but at other practical moral arguments. For example, Robert Adams argues that if humans believe there is no moral order to the universe, then they will become demoralized in their pursuit of morality, which is morally undesirable (1987, 151). The atheist might concede that atheism is (somewhat) demoralizing, but deny that this provides any reason to believe there is a moral order to the universe. Similarly, Linda Zagzebski (1987) argues that morality will not be a rational enterprise unless good actions increase the amount of good in the world. However, given that moral actions often involve the sacrifice of happiness, there is no reason to believe moral action will increase the good unless there is a power transcendent of human activity working on the side of the good. Here the atheist may claim that moral action does increase the good because such actions always increase good character. However, even if that reply fails the atheist may again simply admit that there may be something tragic or absurd about the human condition, and the fact that we may wish things were different is not a reason to believe that they are. So the problem must be faced: Are practical arguments merely rationalized wish-fulfillment?

The theist might respond to this kind of worry in several ways. The first thing to be said is that the fact that a naturalistic view of the universe implies that the universe must be tragic or absurd, if correct, would itself be an important and interesting conclusion. However, apart from this, it makes a great deal of difference how one construes what we might call the background epistemic situation. If one believes that our theoretical evidence favors atheism, then it seems plausible to hold that one ought to maintain a naturalistic view, even if it is practically undesirable that the world have such a character. In that case a practical argument for religious belief could be judged a form of wish-fulfillment. However, this does not seem to be the way those who support such a practical argument see the situation. Kant affirms that the limits of reason established in The Critique of Pure Reason would silence all objections to morality and religion “in Socratic fashion, namely, by the clearest proof of the ignorance of the objectors.” (1781, 1787, 30. See also 530–531) In fact, the situation actually favors theism, since Kant holds that theoretical reason sees value in the concept of God as a regulative ideal, even though God’s existence cannot be theoretically affirmed as knowledge. If we appeal to God’s will to explain what happens in the natural order, we undermine both science and religion, since in that case we would no longer seek empirical evidence for causality and we would make God into a finite object in the natural world (1781, 1787, 562–563). However, as a regulative ideal, the concept of God is one that theoretical reason finds useful: “The assumption of a supreme intelligence, as the one and only cause of the universe, though in the idea alone, can therefore always benefit reason and can never injure it” (1781, 1787, 560). There is a sense in which theoretical reason itself inclines towards affirmation of God, because it must assume that reality is rationally knowable: “If one wishes to achieve systematic knowledge of the world, he ought to regard it as if it were created by a supreme reason.” (Kant 1786, 298) Although theoretical reason cannot affirm the existence of God, it finds it useful to think of the natural world as having the kinds of characteristics it would have if God did exist. Thus, if rational grounds for belief in God come from practical reason, theoretical reason will raise no objections.

For Kant the argument from practical reason for belief in God is not a form of wish-fulfillment because its ground is not an arbitrary desire or wish but “a real need associated with reason” (Kant, 1786, 296). Human beings are not purely theoretical spectators of the universe, but agents. It is not always rational or even possible to refrain from action, and yet action presupposes beliefs about the way things are (For a good interpretation and defense of this view of Kant on the relation between action and belief, see Wood 1970, 17–25). Thus, in some cases suspension of judgment is not possible. The critic may object that a person may act as if p were true without believing p. However, it is not clear that this advice to distinguish action on the basis of p and belief that p can always be followed. For one thing, it seems empirically the case that one way of acquiring belief that p is simply to begin to act as if p were true. Hence, to begin to act as if p were true is at least to embark upon a course of action that makes belief in p more likely. Second, there may well be a sense of “belief” in which “acting as if p were true” is sufficient to constitute belief. This is obviously the case on pragmatist accounts of belief. But even those who reject a general pragmatic account of belief may well find something like this appealing with respect to religious belief. Many religious believers hold that the best way to measure a person’s religious faith is in terms of the person’s actions. Thus, a person who is willing to act on the basis of a religious conception, especially if those actions are risky or costly, is truly a religious believer, even if that person is filled with doubt and anxiety. Such a person might well be construed as more truly a believer than a person who smugly “assents” to religious doctrines but is unwilling to act on them.

Perhaps the right way to think of practical moral arguments is not to see them as justifying belief without evidence, but as shifting the amount of evidence seen as necessary. This is the lesson some would draw from the phenomenon of “pragmatic encroachment” that has been much discussed in recent epistemology. Here is an example of pragmatic encroachment:

You: I am about to replace the ceiling fan in the kitchen. Spouse: Did you turn off the main electrical power to the house? You: Yes. Spouse: If you forgot you could electrocute yourself. You: I better go back and check. (See McBrayer 2014, Rizzieri 2013).

A plausible interpretation of this scenario is that ordinarily claims such as the one I made, based on memory, are justified, and count as knowledge. However, in this situation, the stakes are raised because my life is at risk, and my knowledge is lost because the pragmatic situation has “encroached” on the normal truth-oriented conditions for knowledge. Pragmatic encroachment is controversial and the idea of such encroachment is rejected by some epistemologists. However, defenders hold that it is reasonable to consider the pragmatic stakes in considering evidence for a belief that underlies significant action (see Fantl and McGrath 2007). If this is correct, then it seems reasonable to consider the pragmatic situation in determining how much evidence is sufficient to justify religious beliefs. In theory the adjustment could go in either direction, depending on what costs are associated with a mistake and on which side those costs lie.

In any case it is not clear that practical moral arguments can always be clearly distinguished from theoretical moral arguments. The reason this is so is that in many cases the practical situation described seems itself to be or involve a kind of evidence for the truth of the belief being justified. Take, for example, Kant’s classic argument. One thing Kant’s argument does is call to our attention that it would be enormously odd to believe that human beings are moral creatures subject to an objective moral law, but also to believe that the universe that humans inhabit is indifferent to morality. In other words, the existence of human persons understood as moral beings can itself be understood as a piece of evidence about the character of the universe humans find themselves in. Peter Byrne (2013, 1998) has criticized practical arguments on the grounds that they presuppose something like the following proposition: “The world is likely to be organized so as to meet our deepest human needs.” Byrne objects that this premise is likely to be false if there is no God and thus arguments that assume it appear circular. However, it is not clear that only those who already believe in God will find this premise attractive. The reason for this is that humans are themselves part of the natural universe, and it seems a desirable feature of a metaphysical view that it explain (rather than explain away) features of human existence that seem real and important.

It seems likely therefore that any appeal to a practical argument will include some theoretical component as well, even if that component is not always made explicit. Nevertheless, this does not mean that practical arguments do not have some important and distinctive features. For Kant it was important that religious beliefs stem from practical reason. For if religious belief were grounded solely in theoretical reason, then such belief would have to conform to “extrinsic and arbitrary legislation.” (Kant 1790, 131) Kant thinks such a religion would be one grounded in “fear and submission,” and thus it is good that religious belief is motivated mainly by a free moral act by which the “final end of our being” is presented to us. (1790, 159) For any practical argument makes religious belief existential; the issue is not merely what I believe to be true about the universe but how I shall live my life in that universe.

It seems clear that no version of the moral argument constitutes a “proof” of God’s existence. Each version contains premises that many reasonable thinkers reject. However, this does not mean the arguments have no force. One might think of each version of the argument as attempting to spell out the “cost” of rejecting the conclusion. Some philosophers will certainly be willing to pay the cost, and indeed have independent reasons for doing so. However, it would certainly be interesting and important if one became convinced that atheism required one to reject moral realism altogether, or to embrace an implausible account of how moral knowledge is acquired. For those who think that some version or versions of the arguments have force, the cumulative case for theistic belief may be raised by such arguments.

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How to cite this entry . Preview the PDF version of this entry at the Friends of the SEP Society . Look up topics and thinkers related to this entry at the Internet Philosophy Ontology Project (InPhO). Enhanced bibliography for this entry at PhilPapers , with links to its database.

Byrne, Peter, “Moral Arguments for the Existence of God”, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Spring 2013 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL = < https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/spr2013/entries/moral-arguments-god/ >. [This was the previous entry on moral arguments for the existence of God in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy — see the version history .]
Divine Command Theory , entry by Michael Austin, in the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy.

Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank Trent Dougherty and Mark Linville for reading a draft of this essay and making many useful suggestions. Matthew Wilson also deserves thanks for tracking many bibliographical references and page numbers.

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The Role of Persuasion in Presenting the Gospel

Many people become uncomfortable when the word “persuade” is used in reference to evangelism, but the concept is biblical.

Knowing full well that it is God who provides the increase, the witness carefully clarifies and personalizes the message, and then persuades his or her friend to come to Christ.

It is that knotty issue of persuasion that we will examine here. Though students of the Word know that Paul used persuasion in his ministry, they wonder whether that was “Paul’s thing,” and perhaps not something that should be used by other witnesses. Once having concluded that persuasion was not a personal or cultural feature of the presentation of the gospel, but that it is appropriate for use today, witnesses are still unsure about their readiness, and of their powers of persuasion. They wonder how much persuasion to use, and whether they will cross the line from persuasion to domination.

A detailed study of the New Testament texts in which the usage of the Greek word peitho is properly interpreted as “persuasion” asks and answers questions concerning the persons involved in the event in which persuasion is used—the terms in context that illustrate the means of persuasion, and the responses expected and evinced.

The conclusions of the study are simply stated: the witness should feel comfortable in using meaningful phrases, clear arguments, careful reasoning, and persuasive speech, but should never depend on the power of personal persuasiveness to argue a person to Christ. The message of the gospel (Romans 1:16), and the work of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 2:4), are always the power of God to salvation.

Biblical Persuasion

Before encouraging the reader to work through the accompanying study, I would like to summarize the thrust of Timothy Keller’s message on the subject of “Persuasion” that was given at the Dwell Conference in New York City in 2008. Including the substance of Keller’s message will increase the practicality of this article by adding strategic thoughts on context, communication, credibility, and apologetics.

Keller first describes Paul’s teachings on persuasion, and he emphasizes that Paul does have a strategy, and that he does use arguments in his communication of the gospel. What Paul rejected was “verbal bullying,” “applause generating rhetoric,” and “manipulative stories.” Having established this, Keller proposes a model of persuasion. This model recognizes that people interpret communication from the perspective of their own context, and that there are two basic orientations from which the communicator can approach his listeners: sender-oriented, and listener (or audience)-oriented. The former requires that the listener adjust to the context of the speaker; the latter requires that the speaker adjust to the context of the listener. God’s approach to communication is oriented toward the listener—unfolding his revelation through speakers, writers, forms, and symbols that are meaningful to its intended recipients.

We, too, must be listener-oriented in our communication of the gospel, but that doesn’t mean that we are context-centered. Keller states that we must be message-centered so that we do not lose the truthful message in trying to contextualize it. To avoid the danger of losing the message by being listener-oriented, many feel that the best approach is to be sender-oriented and message-centered. That is certainly easier on the speaker, but it leaves the listener lost in worldview noise. Yet more than two possibilities for communication exist. There are actually four: (1) sender-oriented and message centered; (2) sender-oriented and context-centered; (3) listener-oriented and message-centered; and, (4) listener-oriented and context-centered. Keller refers to these, in the above order, as Traditionalist , Manipulator , Preacher , and Accomodator .

We Must “Preach” the Gospel

The Traditionalist maintains his own comfort level by sharing the gospel message in his own terms, not making an effort to deal with the context of the listener. The Manipulator uses anything that will work, adapting the message in such a way as to manipulate the listener into making a profession. The Accomodator surrenders the truth for the sake of giving the people what they want to hear. The Preacher is the model we should follow (though not all preachers are “Preachers” in this sense). While concerned about the context of the listener, or the audience, the Preacher does not sacrifice the truth of the message. The Preacher works hard at presenting the unchanging Word to a changeable culture in meaningful terms.

In conclusion, Keller recommends five strategic points for the practice of communicating the message with persuasion:

Listen to the feedback you receive from the listener (audience).
Remember that there are three kinds of vehicles for communication: the spoken language; non-verbal communication; and “the person as communication” – the credibility, transparency, and sincerity of the speaker.
Identify, and quantify if you can, the degree of commitment of the listener to their beliefs. This is a tool that can be used with the E&D Scale: On a scale of 1-10, 1-3 are beliefs your audience holds very, very strongly, 4-7 are beliefs they hold, but not very strongly, and 8-10 are beliefs they reject very strongly.
Gain credibility by entering their frame of reference. For example, using language that makes sense; affirming things that both the speaker and the listener can agree on, but present them better than they could; through transparency show them your concerns, show them your heart, and do it with integrity. Present Biblical ethics and morals in ways that remove them from stereotypes and prudishness, demonstrating their relevance.
Challenge their frame of reference. Don’t try to show them the inconsistencies of the things they love and cling to the most. Start with the things that are held with less conviction. However, while breaking down their old equilibrium by showing them what must be abandoned, but establish a new equilibrium by showing them the fruit: what is gained by turning to Christ.

May God grant that through a prayerful, careful, persuasive, listener-oriented presentation of the truthful message of the gospel, the witnesses of Jesus Christ in this generation will see a great harvest of people turning to God from idols before his return.

Editor’s Note: This article was originally posted on the Good Soil blog .

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Essay on My Faith in God

I believe that when people find and connect with God, it’s a beautiful thing.

In September, I recently went on a trip over the weekend called “Fall Retreat”. While I was there, there was a band that played many christian songs. During the songs I would look around and notice how everyone is really in the zone and singing along with the songs. They truly were connecting with God. It was amazing to see.

The first day we got there it was a Friday evening, around 7 o’clock. We got our room and went straight to the main hub. The person their talked a lot about God and how important it is to share God with your friends. As he talked I wrote down in my journal what he said. We didn’t get back to our room till around 12 o’clock.

After sleeping I woke up and felt completely refreshed and more connected to God than I was the day before. I decided to journal how I felt. My church leader, Carly, told my small group about journaling and I decided to try it out. I bought a journal and a pen. I had gotten this journal only a few days before the retreat. It was gold and had a bendable cover that was engraved with a copper tone that said “my thoughts”. I wrote down what it was like to really connect with God. I looked over what the preacher had talked about the night before, that I had written down in my journal. Reading that reminded me of how good I felt when I connected with him, and I felt that way throughout the day.

That night my friends, church leader, and me, sat in our small room, that had white brick walls and two full sized beds. We talked about what we thought about the preachers words. I noticed that day how my friends seemed happier and more awake even though we only got a few hours of sleep. My friends said they felt a connection they have never felt before. They had been going to church much longer than me so to hear that was surprising.

Sharing the love of God with my friends shows me how truly beautiful it is when everyone gets together and connects with God. If you haven’t gone to a retreat or even church I would recommend it. I promise it won’t be a waste of time.

I believe when people connect with God, its a beautiful thing.

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Home — Essay Samples — Religion — Religious Beliefs — Reflecting on My Personal Experience with God

Reflecting on My Personal Experience with God

Categories: Faith Personal Beliefs Religious Beliefs

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Published: Aug 4, 2023

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Questioning my faith in god, strengthening my relationship with god, learning experience with faith.

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Guest Essay

There’s No Such Thing as an American Bible

A photo of an LED sign against a vivid sunset, displaying the word “GOD” atop an American flag background.

By Esau McCaulley

Contributing Opinion Writer

The presumptive Republican nominee for president of the United States, who weeks ago started selling shoes , is now peddling Bibles. During Holy Week.

What’s special about this Bible? So many things. For example, according to a promotional website, it’s the only Bible endorsed by Donald Trump. It’s also the only one endorsed by the country singer Lee Greenwood. Admittedly, the translation isn’t distinctive — it’s your standard King James Version — but the features are unique. This Bible includes the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, the Declaration of Independence, the Pledge of Allegiance and part of the lyrics of Mr. Greenwood’s song “God Bless the USA.” Perhaps most striking, the cover of the Bible does not include a cross or any symbol of the Christian tradition; instead, it is emblazoned with the American flag.

While part of me wants to laugh at the absurdity of it — and marvel at the sheer audacity — I find the messaging unsettling and deeply wrong. This God Bless the USA Bible, as it’s officially named, focuses on God’s blessing of one particular people. That is both its danger and, no doubt for some, its appeal.

Whether this Bible is an example of Christian nationalism I will leave to others. It is at least an example of Christian syncretism, a linking of certain myths about American exceptionalism and the Christian faith. This is the American church’s consistent folly: thinking that we are the protagonists in a story that began long before us and whose main character is in fact the Almighty.

Holy Week is the most sacred portion of the Christian calendar, a time when the church recounts the central events of our faith’s narrative, climaxing in the death and resurrection of Jesus. That story, unlike the parochial God Bless the USA Bible, does not belong to any culture.

Holy Week is celebrated on every continent and in too many languages to number. Some of the immigrants Mr. Trump declared were “ poisoning the blood” of America will probably shout “Christ is risen!” this Easter. Many of them come from the largely Christian regions of Latin America and the Caribbean. They may have entered the country with Bibles in their native tongues nestled securely among their other belongings.

One of the beauties of the Christian faith is that it leaps over the lines dividing countries, leading the faithful to call fellow believers from very different cultures brothers and sisters. Most of the members of this international community consist of the poor living in Africa, Asia and Latin America. There are more Spanish-speaking Christians than English- speaking ones .

If there are central messages that emerge from the variety of services that take place during Holy Week, for many Christians they are the setting aside of power to serve, the supremacy of love, the offer of divine forgiveness and the vulnerability of a crucified God.

This is not the stuff of moneymaking schemes or American presidential campaigns.

It was Pontius Pilate , standing in as the representative of the Roman Empire, who sentenced Jesus to death. The Easter story reminds believers that empires are more than willing to sacrifice the innocent if it allows rulers to stay in power. The church sees Christ’s resurrection as liberating the believer from the power of sin. The story challenges imperial modes of thinking, supplanting the endless pursuit of power with the primacy of love and service.

Easter, using the language of St. Augustine, represents the victory of the City of God over the City of Man. It declares the limits of the moral reasoning of nation-states and has fortified Christians who’ve resisted evil regimes such as fascists in South America, Nazis in Germany, apartheid in South Africa and segregation in the United States.

For any politician to suppose that a nation’s founding documents and a country music song can stand side by side with biblical texts fails at a theological and a moral level. I can’t imagine people in other countries going for anything like it. It is hard to picture a modern “God Bless England” Bible with elements of British common law appended to Christianity’s most sacred texts.

I am glad for the freedoms that we share as Americans. But the idea of a Bible explicitly made for one nation displays a misunderstanding of the story the Bible attempts to tell. The Christian narrative culminates in the creation of the Kingdom (and family) of God, a transnational community united by faith and mutual love.

Roman Catholics , Anglicans and Orthodox Christians, who together claim around 1.5 billion members, describe the Bible as a final authority in matters of faith. Evangelicals, who have overwhelmingly supported Mr. Trump over the course of three election cycles, are known for their focus on Scripture, too. None of these traditions cite or refer to any American political documents in their doctrinal statements — and for good reason.

This Bible may be unique in its form, but the agenda it pursues has recurred throughout history. Christianity is often either co-opted or suppressed; it is rarely given the space to be itself. African American Christians have long struggled to disentangle biblical texts from their misuse in the United States. There is a reason that the abolitionist Frederick Douglass said that between the Christianity of this land (America) and the Christianity of Christ, he recognized the “widest possible difference.”

And while Christianity was used to give theological cover to North American race-based chattel slavery, it was violently attacked in places like El Salvador and Uganda, when leaders including the archbishops Oscar Romero and Janani Luwum spoke out against political corruption.

The work of the church is to remain constantly vigilant to maintain its independence and the credibility of its witness. In the case of this particular Bible, discerning what is happening is not difficult. Christians are being played. Rather than being an appropriate time to debut a patriotic Bible, Easter season is an opportune moment for the church to recover the testimony of the supremacy of the cross over any flag, especially one on the cover of a Bible.

Esau McCaulley ( @esaumccaulley ) is a contributing Opinion writer, the author of “ How Far to the Promised Land: One Black Family’s Story of Hope and Survival in the American South ” and an associate professor of New Testament at Wheaton College.

The Times is committed to publishing a diversity of letters to the editor. We’d like to hear what you think about this or any of our articles. Here are some tips . And here’s our email: [email protected] .

Follow The New York Times Opinion section on Facebook , Instagram , TikTok , WhatsApp , X and Threads .

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