ARE MORAL LAWS JUST BRUTE FACTS, NOT NEEDING ANY EXPLANATION?

There are some atheists who believe in objective moral laws. However, we have to ask, what is the source of these laws? If they are merely beamed in from a planet in a far off galaxy, why should we obey them? Do we obey everything we hear in a sitcom? Of course not! Why then messages from other planets!

Well, what would give these laws their authority? One atheist confessed that moral laws are just “brute facts”:

·       The brute ethical facts [laws] just are - that's the nature of brute facts.

However, if these laws do not come from an authoritative and all-wise Source, why does it even matter if these “ethical facts [laws]” exist?

The atheist might argue that these laws are actually wired into our nature by evolution. They are part of us, and, for our own well-being, we have to live in harmony with them.

I agree in part. These laws are wired into us. However, they teach us about universal and objective moral truths. They are not just a bio-chemical series of reactions. Instead, this wiring serves as a fire-alarm bell. It sounds to alert us of a real and external fire that needs our attention. When we hurt another, we have ignited a fire, and we have to do something about it. It is not just a disturbing bell but has significance beyond our bio-chemical reaction.

If moral law was no more than a disturbing bio-chemical reaction, it would be like a fire-alarm that sounds without there being a real fire. In this case, the appropriate reaction would be to either repair it or simply destroy it.

This is the strategy many have pursued in regards to their annoying conscience – to stifle its annoying bio-chemical reaction. This can be achieved, at least partially, with alcohol or drugs. Others resort to psychotherapy or affiliations that affirm them despite their anti-social or even criminal behavior, while it seems that others have succeeded in dismantling their conscience.

Besides, if morality is just a set of impersonal laws, brute facts, then there is no reason that we cannot simply find ways to overcome them as we have done with the laws of physics. We have been able to defy gravity simply by flying on an airplane. Is there any reason that we cannot practice the same defiance on a moral level?

Should we defy the moral taboos against adultery or incest? Why not, if they are impersonal brute facts?

Instead, following God’s laws have become a joy for me. They have infused my life with meaning and fullness:

·       Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work. (John 4:34)