Morality without God

See Note 1 below

“Shouldn’t we have a foundation for our morality?” A close relative of mine asked me the other day when I mentioned that I am happy without God. God gives us the reason for being good people: that’s his simple argument. I told him the story of Dr Rieux.

Bernard Rieux is a physician and the protagonist of Albert Camus’s novel The Plague. The novel is set in Oran, a city struck by a devastating plague. As the disease spreads, the inhabitants are confronted with suffering, death and the collapse of ordinary life. The plague becomes more than an epidemic. It is now a test of how human beings deal with suffering.

Why so much suffering? Why do innocent children too die? Is there indeed a God who cares? Can God be an answer?

There are people who find their answer in God. And there are people who simply roll up their sleeves and do the best they can to alleviate the suffering without bothering about God. Dr Rieux belongs to the latter category.

Dr Rieux doesn’t need a God or any theology. He is not a believer. But he believes in the need to do good simply because that’s how any rational creature will behave in critical situations. Rational morality, not theological morality. In other words, people like Dr Rieux don’t need a God in order to do good.

Dr Rieux simply recognises suffering and responds to it. He offers his services, even running the risk of contracting the disease himself, not because he expects a heavenly reward. He fights the epidemic because people are dying. Simple.

His morality begins with a very modest proposition: A human being is suffering, and therefore I must help if I can. That ‘therefore’ is crucial. It does not require a supernatural commandment.

Father Paneloux is a Catholic priest in the novel, who becomes a kind of counterfoil to the doctor. For Paneloux, God is the ultimate answer to all mysteries. He initially interprets the plague in religious terms. He sees it as a divine punishment and tells the people that they must examine their consciences. The plague is a divine punishment for people’s sins, the priest believes.

When an innocent child succumbs to the epidemic, the priest’s faith is apparently shaken. The priest dies soon, not because of plague. Camus doesn’t tell us explicitly. But we know. Certain disillusionments can be fatal. But this post is not about disillusionment. This is about morality without God.

Jean Tarrou is another character in the same novel who provides yet another example. He joins the fight against the epidemic even though he does not claim any religious justification for doing so. He forms sanitary squads and puts himself at risk to help others. His motivation is simple human solidarity, nothing religious. He understands that human beings are vulnerable creatures who can easily become victims of forces beyond their control. If we are all exposed to suffering, our first duty is to stand beside one another.

My relative would say that God makes it easier for us to do that standing. I’d raise my fist to the heavens and ask why we need an omnipotent God who can’t be a little benevolent. Dr Rieux and Jean Tarrou would simply get to work.

These two characters teach us that we are human beings before we are believers or unbelievers. We know that suffering is an evil. We know that suffering is terrible. And from that awareness emerges compassion. One doesn’t really need a God for that.

You don’t need to be a saint in order to do good. Camus makes us see that simple but profound truth. You don’t need any philosophy either in order to be good. And you definitely don’t need certainty about God.

You only need to recognise that another person is suffering and decide that their suffering matters.

Does a mother need any theology or philosophy to love her child? Love for other human beings could be as natural as a mother’s love for her child. I have often wondered whether our religions and gods have made that natural love difficult.

I must add that Camus does not suggest that religion is useless. Nor do I. The point is: Morality need not depend upon religious belief. When there is another human being in pain, I cannot simply walk away. The foundation of a morality could be as simple as that.

 

A couple of notes.

1. The photo in the post was taken by me when I visited a relative yesterday in a hospital in Kochi. This is a view from the hospital room. The patient was in visible suffering despite the panorama outside. This post has its origin partly in that suffering too.

2. Suffering has been a concern of mine for long and Camus has helped me find meaningful answers. Religion didn’t help me. Religion made me write a book, however: The Simplest Guide to Religion. When Covid was wreaking much havoc all around me, I wrote a short book titled: Coping with Suffering. Dr Rieux and Fr Paneloux both find mention in the book on suffering.