Dennis Prager

February 2, 2011

No God, no moral society

The Case for the Torah, Part III

By Dennis Prager

Tweet

Share

The Case for the Torah: Part I / Part II / Part III / Part IV / Part V

Every reader of this column — no matter how alienated from religion — is familiar with the adage, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Even the United Nations issued a postage stamp with these words chiseled into stone.

I suspect, however, that many people who are familiar with this verse either have no idea where it’s from, or believe it’s from the New Testament. In fact, it is from the Torah, the very middle of it, as if to say, “this is what the Torah is all about.”

But my concern here is neither the fame nor the influence of Leviticus 19:18. Rather it is how few people know what the verse really says. It does not say simply, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” It says, “Love your neighbor as yourself, I am the Lord.”

Whether deliberately, or even consciously, or not, the verse has been secularized, and thereby robbed of half its meaning.

From the Torah’s point of view, as well as that of logic, whether or not God demands that we treat our fellow human beings decently is the most important moral question. If it is not God who directs us to be good people, who or what does?

There are three possible answers: a) Moses or whoever else wrote that verse; b) reason or common sense; c) our individual consciences.

The Torah knows that any of those would be far less effective in getting people to treat their neighbor decently.

The entire ethical edifice of the Torah rests on understanding that unless God is regarded as the source of ethics, there will be no ethical society. Of course there will always be ethical individuals. But that was always true. There were ethical individuals among the child-sacrificing Canaanites, among the human-sacrificing Aztecs and among the most primitive tribes that ever lived. But no one would argue that Canaanite, Aztec or pagan beliefs made those individuals ethical, let alone built ethical societies.

Unfortunately, most Jews and most other secularists believe that an ethical society can be built without God. But, interestingly, every atheist philosopher I have interviewed or debated has, to his credit, acknowledged that if there is no God, morality — i.e., good and evil — are only subjective opinions. If there is no God, “good” and “evil” no more represent an objective reality than do “pretty” and “ugly.”

When confronted with Judaism’s (and logic’s) insistence on a transcendent source of morality, the most frequently offered argument by those committed to a godless moral world is: “More people have been killed by religions in the name of God than by anything else.”

This line is, quite simply, false. It is not an opinion with which I happen to differ. It is just false. The fact is that far more people have been murdered — not to mention enslaved and tortured — by secular anti-religious regimes than by all the God-based groups in history.

Mao-Tse Tung’s atheistic regime in China killed between 40 million and 70 million people.

Joseph Stalin’s atheistic regime in the Soviet Union killed 20 million or more people.

Pol Pot’s atheistic regime in Cambodia killed about one out of every four Cambodians.

The North Korean atheistic regime has killed millions of its own people.

Nazism, an irreligious racist doctrine, killed as many as 17 million civilians.

The Hutus slaughtered Tutsis in Rwanda for ethnic and tribal reasons, not religious ones.

The 5.4 million Congolese killed in the last decade has nothing to do with religion.

And at this moment, as regards Jews and the greatest Jewish existential question — that of Israel’s survival — the more religious the American Christian, the more likely he or she is to support Israel, while the greatest enmity toward Israel emanates from the center of secularism, the university.

Those who claim that God-based societies have killed more than any others regularly cite the Crusades and the Inquisition. But this, too, proves my point. First, these events occurred 1,000 years ago and 500 years ago, respectively. If God-belief is such a source of murder, why the need to use examples from so long ago? Second, the Crusades were essentially Christendom’s war to re-conquer the holy places that Muslims had conquered in their wars of aggression against Christianity. Unless one holds that all wars are immoral, this one was not particularly so. What was particularly immoral was the massacring of Jewish communities in Germany by Crusaders on their way to the Holy Land; though even here, one should note that those massacres were never directed by the Church, and that Jews regularly hid in the homes of bishops.

As for the Inquisition, the largest number of executions I have seen for the Inquisition period of 1540-1700 is 3,000. Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot, the Hutus in Rwanda, all murdered more in a day than the Inquisition murdered in 160 years.

Today, when one thinks of murder in the name of God, one thinks of Islamic terror. And one is right to. But radical Islam has nothing to do with the Torah or any Judeo-Christian belief system, and its Allah is not the God of the Torah or of the New Testament. Indeed, its adherents target Jews and Christians.

Many secular Jews and others fervently yearn for a good society. It is a yearning I share. The record shows, however, that with all its problems, a God-based society — as envisaged from Moses to Isaiah to Washington, Jefferson, and Franklin — is the best chance we have to actually make one.

When asked why they risked their lives to save Jews during the Holocaust, rescuers gave many reasons. But none of them answered “because of secularism” or “because reason told me to do so; it was the only rational thing to do.”

Coupling God and morality — as in Leviticus 19:18 — was the Torah’s greatest moral achievement. The Jews’ decoupling of God and morality is the Jews’, and the world’s, greatest moral tragedy.

Dennis Prager is a nationally syndicated radio talk-show host, columnist, author and public speaker. He can be heard in Los Angeles on KRLA (AM 870) weekdays 9 a.m. to noon. His Web site is dennisprager.com.

A version of this article appeared in print.

---

Post your comment below!

Click here to return to the homepage.

COMMENTS

We welcome your feedback. Comments may not exceed 700 characters.

Privacy Policy

Your information will not be shared or sold without your consent. Get all the details.

Terms of Service

JewishJournal.com has rules for its commenting community.Get all the details.

I’m surprised to read an article by Dennis Prager in which he claims that “every atheist philosopher I have interviewed or debated has, to his credit, acknowledged that if there is no God, morality — i.e., good and evil — are only subjective opinions” so soon after Sam Harris published a book saying exactly the opposite.  Harris and Prager debated in the past.  Is there a lapse in Prager’s memory?

Comment by Guy on 2/02/11 at 2:17 pm

Dennis Prager rewrites history when he suggests that Washington, Jefferson, and Franklin envisioned a God-based society.

Comment by Guy on 2/02/11 at 2:25 pm

Ah, the old chestnut, you can’t be moral without God. Those who use this argument merely show their ignorance of the nature of human existence and also fly in the face of observed reality. The Scandinavian countries are not only amongst the world’s most law abiding but are also the most godless.

Comment by Gordon Hide on 2/03/11 at 3:18 am

I forgot to check “Notify me of follow-up comments.” Dennis Prager has much to say when it comes to Jewish history, but very little of value to say when it comes to any other topic.

Comment by Guy on 2/03/11 at 1:33 pm

Gordon,
Dennis never said that one nor society cannot be moral without God. He very simply stated that history shows societies who embrace the Judeo/Christian God have proven to be the most moral. The two countries that have embraced these values more than any other society is Israel and the U.S. This does not mean there are no other morally good societies or that Israel and the U.S. are with faults. That being said, the U.S. has created the wealthiest people the world has ever seen in history; in my opinion this is a direct result of the freedom provided by the Constitution which was based on Judeo/Christian philosophy.

Comment by jay cox on 2/04/11 at 8:20 am

Mr. Prager you are incorrect. Our American forefathers did not create a god-based society or government. If, anything, they were opposed to it because of the kind of destruction religion based countries wrought on one another in Europe. Your line, “The Torah knows that any of those would be far less effective in getting people to treat their neighbor decently.” The Torah knows? If this is not an example of reification, what is?

Comment by Phillip Cohen on 2/04/11 at 2:19 pm

Jay answered Gordon’s legitimate criticism of Dennis’s thesis with a non sequitur (and a false non sequitur at that).  The Constitution was not based on Judeo/Christian philosophy.  It was based mostly on the philosophy of the European enlightenment as well as the experience of Ancient Rome.  Furthermore, “Judeo/Christian” is a neologism made-up by right-wing Americans that basically means “Protestant.”

Comment by Guy on 2/04/11 at 11:18 pm

Worshipping Almighty God is perfectly sweet and harmless. I don’t see for what moral reason anyone should argue that one who does so is not made kinder by it. Moreover, arguing against God is a callousness aimed toward both God and humanity. How is such line of reasoning a logical way to live if life is to have anything at all to do with the pursuit of happiness? No, the case against God is unreasonable at face value.

Comment by Daniel on 2/05/11 at 9:49 pm

It is my belief that man invented God just like all other gods. We just made him like Annie in “Annie Get Your Gun”. Paraphrasing her song: “Anything your god can do, my God can do better; He can do anything better than yours”. The Hebrews made up all sorts of stories and threats to mold a motley group into a community. Morality came as part of evolution and experience; even animals of the same species have a sense of cooperation rather than constant fighting.

Comment by Jack Straus on 2/06/11 at 2:42 pm

Jack Straus, great posting.
Morality as an evolutionary response to establishing community. That works for me!

Comment by Phillip Cohen on 2/06/11 at 3:09 pm

Jack and Philip, you may want to read RIGHTS FROM WRONGS by Alan Dershowitz, which elaborates on this point (and others).  It changed the way I view these issues.  If you buy it used on Amazon, it’ll be the best $3 you’ll ever spend: http://www.amazon.com/Rights-Wrongs-Origins-Experience-Injustice/dp/B0009K76B2/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1297037210&sr=8-6

Comment by Guy on 2/06/11 at 5:11 pm

Guy,
Gordon is the one who used a non-sequitur if anyone did. All I did was refute Gordon’s interpretation of the article with specific examples; i.e. Gordon - “Ah, the old chestnut, you can’t be moral without God,” Jay’s Response - “Dennis never said that one nor society cannot be moral without God. He very simply stated that history shows societies who embrace the Judeo/Christian God have proven to be the most moral.” Please explain how I used a non-sequitur and Gordon did not when he introduced something Dennis not only never said or implied, but flat out refuted.

Comment by Jay Cox on 2/07/11 at 9:03 am

Jay, the very title of Prager’s piece “No God, no moral society” clearly indicates that my interpretation was valid. And my Scandinavian examples show that your reply was inadequate.

Daniel,

“Worshipping Almighty God is perfectly sweet and harmless.”

Error in belief eventually leads to error in action.

Good men will do good things and bad men will do bad things but for good men to do bad things, that takes religion.

Comment by Gordon Hide on 2/07/11 at 3:24 pm

I wrote, “Jay answered Gordon’s legitimate criticism of Dennis’s thesis with a non sequitur.” Gordon’s criticism was legitimate.  Jay’s answer was a non sequitur.

Comment by Guy on 2/07/11 at 7:06 pm

I came to believe that we are all spiritual beings that are just going through this human experience,I realized that the longest journey I’ll ever take is that from my head to my heart.It is my heart that allows me to love my neigbor for my head is too busy worrying on weather or not he’ll let me borrow his weed eater.
It is one thing for me to chant “Save The Whales” while out at sea but becomes a whole different issue when I choose to drown for them as well.
We can choose to agree that we dis-agree or we could criticize one another and insult each other etc.etc. I love ya’ man and for all I know you may not even have a weed eater!

Comment by FROG on 2/11/11 at 11:30 am

Perhaps the religious killed fewer people than the secular, but it was certainly not for a lack of intention.  The religious were every bit as vicious as anybody else, slaughtering everyone of the “enemy” they could get their hands on.  The numbers difference is simply due to the available weaponry.  It was perhaps no coincidence that when religion ruled, science was primitive.  Swords and bows take a far lower toll than bomber planes, machine guns, and atom bombs.  It was not the good intentions of the religious fanatics that kept the death toll lower than in modern times, for they had no good intentions, especially against those who refused to believe their fables.

Comment by Richard Hode on 2/12/11 at 6:56 pm

Yay! They printed my letter to the editor in this week’s Journal!

Comment by Guy on 2/12/11 at 10:55 pm

frog:
“I came to believe that we are all spiritual beings that are just going through this human experience,I realized that the longest journey I’ll ever take is that from my head to my heart.”

It’s OK to be in touch with your emotions and instincts. The trouble arises when you confuse feelings of hope, love and yearning with what actually exists outside your mind.

Comment by Gordon Hide on 2/14/11 at 12:58 pm

Jefferson and Franlin envision a God based society?
“Question with boldness even the existence of a god.” - Thomas Jefferson (letter to Peter Carr, 10 August 1787):
“All natural institutions of churches, whether Jewish, Christian, or Turkish, appear to me no other than human inventions, set up to terrify and enslave mankind, and monopolize power and profit.” Thomas Paine, The Age of Reason;
“Religion and government will both exist in greater purity, the less they are mixed together”, John Madison.
“Lighthouses are more helpful than Churches”, Benjamin Franklin

Comment by Larry Linn on 2/14/11 at 5:25 pm

So if you don’t believe in God, your morality is only a subjective opinion.

Speaking of which, if you do believe in God, your morality is also only a subjective opinion. Not to mention your belief in God.

Comment by Susannah on 2/15/11 at 9:04 am

I am Jewish and without a belief in a deity. I am an ethical man. I am a good father, teacher and community volunteer. I love my Jewishness. Even though I am without this belief I take my son to various temples (conservative, Chabad and others) and he is schooled in a secular Jewish institution. Why am I Jewish? It is a combination of birthright and carefully selecting my fantasy.

Comment by Phillip Cohen on 2/15/11 at 9:37 am

Phillip Cohen:
“Why am I Jewish? It is a combination of birthright and carefully selecting my fantasy.”
Well I guess if I came from a culture which has supplied so many Nobel prize winners from such a small population I probably couldn’t resist being attached to it either.

Comment by Gordon Hide on 2/16/11 at 10:40 am

Gordon,
    From your comments on this past Monday at 12:58pm,thanks for your feedback. I totally agree with what you stated especially with the confusion part,I also believe that our attitude helps tremendously when faced not only during prosperity but through our adversity as well.At any rate….I appreciate your comments Gordon!
            FROG(Faithfully Relying On God) also known as Dan…

Comment by Frog on 2/17/11 at 12:47 am

Post a Comment

Name:
Email:

Type the word you see below:

Comment:

Remember my personal information

Notify me of follow-up comments?