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Salient. Victoria University of Wellington Students' Newspaper. Volume 31, Number 22. September 17, 1968

Is God moral?

Is God moral?

Sir—It is unfortunate that Mrs Belding, in her critique of the Death of God movement, has only considered the most extreme positions that have been taken in the controversy. Is it really impossible that one can deny the existence of God and still claim that the human condition creates its own morality? Is it contradictory that one can believe in the existence of God as creator and life-force and yet reject the moral doctrines of organised religion?

Mrs Belding admits that "man … is intrinsically and inescapably a moral creature", but clearly she prefers to view God rather than man as the source of our moral condition. The only reasonable validity in such a claim would be thai it is more convenient to accept religious standards of 'authenticity' than those of society or those of philosophical creation.

Surely it is human effort, both religious and secular, that has been responsible for the development of the traditional ethical and moral system under which man may live peacefully and fruitfully with his neighbours. Whether the builders of our commonly accepted moral foundations believed themselves to be guided by God is irrelevant in this context— what must be admitted is that rationally, morality,. freedom and meanig all exist for man and by dint of human creation. This isn't to deny the existence of God— to my mind this is contiguous with the existence of life Nevertheless, it is a long hop from theism to the divinity and inescapability of religious morality, and one which Mrs Belding would do well to reconsider before affirming it as a logical necessity.

Yours etc.,

Mike Silver.