An important objection against the existence of the god of the Bible focuses on this god’s character. The god of the Bible isn’t simply an ideal abstraction; in Western religious traditions we find many stories about what God has done or commanded believers to do. Often such actions are contrary to basic moral principles; at the same time, God is described as the source of morality. How can this be?
What are we to make of a god which is supposed to be morally perfect and represent a moral ideal when, at the same time, religious tradition makes this god out to be a moral monster? How can a god that commands mass slaughter and rape also be the source for morality in the universe?
These are important questions because religious theists in the West believe both the truth of the claim that God is the source of morality and of the claim that God has committed or commanded atrocious acts which people today would recoil in horror from. If these two claims are contradictory, the people are worshipping a god that cannot exist.
An argument against such a god can be formally stated thus:
- God is morally perfect (premise)
- Any act that God condones, commands, or causes is morally permissible or mandated (from 1)
- Any act that God forbids is morally impermissible (from 1)
- The Bible accurately reveals many acts condoned, commanded, or caused by God
- In the Bible there are acts which God forbids but which God also condones, commands, or causes
- It is incoherent for a morally perfect being to condone, command, or cause immoral acts
- The God of the Bible is incoherent and, therefore, cannot exist.
This can be described as a contradiction between three ideas common to many Western religious systems: What God commands is moral, the Bible is accurate in its description of God’s actions and commands, and there are certain acts (like rape, murder, and slavery) committed or commanded by God that are immoral.
Any of the above premises or inferences might be challenged, but not in a manner which would preserve the likely existence of the God of the Bible. Thus, even strong and effective challenges to this argument would in the end lead us to the same conclusion as the argument itself: the God of the Bible cannot or at least probably does not exist.
Either way, the theist’s position should be abandoned.
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