In a PragerU video, Dennis Prager claims that if God does not exist, then there is no objective basis for morality. Prager, and those who agree with him, should listen to Objectivist philosopher Onkar Ghate’s talk “Religion and Morality,” in which he argues that it is the belief in God that undermines objective morality. If God is the source of morality, Ghate points out, then murder is good — whenever God says it is.

Prager claims that every atheist philosopher that he has ever read or debated on this subject has acknowledged that without God there are no moral facts, only opinions about morality. I’d recommend Prager read Ayn Rand’s essay “The Objectivist Ethics,” in which she argues that the source of values and morality is not God’s (or society’s) opinions, but objective facts. What facts? Read the whole essay here.

Resources:

• Religion and Morality with Onkar Ghate

• Religion vs. Freedom with Onkar Ghate

• “The Objectivist Ethics” by Ayn Rand

• “Causality Versus Duty” by Ayn Rand
• ‪Isn’t the Old Testament Indispensable for Morality? with Leonard Peikoff
• “Morality,” “Mystical Ethics,” “God” and “Religion” in the Ayn Rand Lexicon