The Oddness of Ethics Without God: Why Morality Is Not “At Home” in a Non-Theistic World

Despite non-theistic proposals on offer to ground moral realism, theism still offers a far more stable, robust, and well-integrated metaphysical context for objective moral facts and moral values. Moral realism is not truly “at home” within such non-theistic frameworks, which include Cornell school-type naturalistic moral realism or non-naturalistic, non-theistic Platonist moral realism. Theism’s deep connection to moral facts and moral values is more natural, unifying, and basic than these alternatives. Furthermore, theism offers a more comprehensive explanatory account for other central features of our human experience, as well as key features of the universe in which we find ourselves.