This is the view of philosopher Slavoj iek. In an opinion piece published by the ABC.
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Iek made the claim in opposition to the commonly heard line, attributed to the Russian novelist Dostoevsky that "If there is no God, everything is permitted."
So which is it? Is belief in God a catalyst for good or for evil behaviour?
I have often heard people lament, "When I was younger, everyone went to church, and nobody locked their doors; now, nobody goes to church, and everybody locks their doors."
I also find it hard to reconcile two common claims. First, that throwing off the shackles of belief will lead to a more enlightened and moral world. Second, that the world seems to be getting worse with growing greed and inequality, violence and injustice, loneliness and ill-temper. In Australia, where religious adherence is generally declining, it is hard to see how both claims can be true.
![Does belief in God make one more or less moral, ponders David Robinson. Picture by Jacob McMaster. Does belief in God make one more or less moral, ponders David Robinson. Picture by Jacob McMaster.](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/Xn3KP2xbyFBWgTmsCMnW6P/6674550f-0a05-479c-8b94-f82db485447f.JPG/r0_268_5472_3357_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
But what about all the harm done in the name of religion? Let me give you four reasons that belief in God makes people more moral.
First, to say that religion is a problem is to mistakenly treat all faiths as if they were the same. No believer would claim that. I am a Christian precisely because I believe the claims of Jesus are true and competing claims are mistaken. I don't believe all faiths lead to the same standards of morality. Any serious Hindu, Muslim or Atheist would feel the same about my faith. I will let others defend their beliefs and stick to making the case for what I believe to be true.
Second, religious harm is minuscule compared to that caused by atheist regimes. For example, the Spanish Inquisition, a common example of religious evil, ran from 1478 to 1834 and saw the Catholic Church issue about 3000 death sentences for heresy. Shocking? Absolutely! But is it worse than Pol Pot's ideologically atheist Khmer Rouge regime, which was responsible for the deaths of nearly 2 million Cambodians, some for the crime of needing glasses? Or the modern estimates of between 15 and 20 million Russians who were killed under Stalin's regime? Or the 40 to 80 million who are believed to have died in Mao's China?
Third, when Christians do these things, they are acting in defiance of the teachings of Jesus. Even if every verdict reached by the Spanish Inquisition found real fault according to God's standards, for the inquisitors to hand down a death sentence is still ultimately to disregard God's claim to be the sole judge on such matters when he says, "It is mine to avenge; I will repay,"
Which brings us to the final reason that belief in the Christian God makes people more moral: judgment. Stalin, Mao and Pol Pot probably all died feeling like they escaped justice. So often, our courts read out the 'not guilty' verdict, and we feel expensive lawyers and legal technicalities have thwarted justice. And if there is no God, those people have gotten away with it. But if there is a God who perfectly holds all things to account, then evil will be punished, and its consequences will be set right. All of us act differently when someone is watching, and I am not ashamed to say that the prospect of God's judgement motivates me to curb the worst impulses of my heart and seek to do what is good in his eyes.
Any follower of Jesus would be the first to tell you they are far from perfect. But I am yet to meet the person whose faith in Jesus has made them less concerned about leading a good and moral life.