From whence comes morality?

We'll be embarking on a multi-week adventure that takes us from righteous anti-theism, to non-theistic biological morality, to God-based Creation Spirituality. I'm targeting three Sundays to complete the passage.

This Sunday we'll view a talk by Sam Harris entitled "Science can answer moral questions." The blurb that accompanies the presentation reads:

"Questions of good and evil, right and wrong are commonly thought unanswerable by science. But Sam Harris argues that science can -- and should -- be an authority on moral issues, shaping human values and setting out what constitutes a good life." Notice that it does not say THE authority, but rather AN authority.

However, both the title and the blurb are misleading; Harris' remarks are mostly based on identifying unnecessary suffering caused by religious beliefs. He says cruelty and injustice are easy to identify and we should speak out against them, but often we don't because religous based actions have a special status that we regard too highly. This presentation was delivered to a large forum in Palo Alto, and he received a standing ovation at its end. It is a good talk, but Harris does not show that science can answer moral questions. Here's the link: Click here.

On the other hand, Frans de Waal, in a recent column in the NY Times speaks directly to findings of science that point fairly clearly to a biological bases for our sense of morality. de Waal, writing under the title "Morals without God?" posits that evidence for the building blocks of morality are clear in many species of mammals, but as for science offering moral answers, he says, "what alternative does science have to offer? Science is not in the business of spelling out the meaning of life and even less in telling us how to live our lives. We, scientists, are good at finding out why things are the way they are, or how things work, and I do believe that biology can help us understand what kind of animals we are and why our morality looks the way it does. But to go from there to offering moral guidance seems a stretch." Here's the link: Click here.

The following week we'll have a look at Matthew Fox, promulgator of Creation Spirituality and his 95 theses. We'll talk about how these statements, nailed to the door of Wittenburg Church where Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses that started the Protestant Reformation, fill in where science cannot go. Fox's theses, in the context of the positions offered by Harris and Fox provide some intriguing notions. For example, “All the names we give to God come from an understanding of ourselves”, and "Celebration and worship are key to human community and survival..." Here's the link: Click here.

We'll keep a record of the major points that arise out of these sessions, with the expectation that a definitive theme will emerge.

Please join us. We'll be delighted to see you. And as ever, excellent childcare is provided.