Freethought in Action: Two Deistic Views on Morality (Monday, October 7, 2013)

Freethinkers reject authority and dogma, especially in religion. Freethinkers form their own conclusions, based on reason and logic, not group think. And that’s one of the beauties of Deism, a form of theistic freethought: Deists are not expected to uniformly believe the same things.

An example of this has to do with morality. Last month, the World Union of Deist’s Deputy Director Jayson X asserted that we should always do as much good as we can, and we should always do as little evil as we can. Good is treating living creatures the way that they should be treated, and evil is not treating living creatures the way that they should be treated. For Jayson, Utilitarianism (the ethical theory that every voluntary human action should attempt to achieve the greatest amount of happiness for the greatest amount of creatures, especially humans) is the best ethical theory.

In contrast, co-host and Deist Tim Wingate believes that, “We should derive our morality from the examples of Nature, as Nature is all that we have and is explicit, differing from the anecdotes of man’s mind. Good is doing what is best for me and mine without causing injury to others, and evil is causing injury to others without just compensation. A Nature-based society with a Natural Law system is better than Utilitarianism because Utilitarianism or variations of it have historically been paternalistic, hierarchical, and authoritarian using violence to achieve the greatest ‘good’ for the greatest number.”

Do both moralistic views lead to the same result? Is one better than another, or do you have something else in mind?

Join Jayson and Tim for this month’s God Gave Us Reason, Not Religion podcast from the World Union of Deists.  Calls are welcome.

The God Gave Us Reason, Not Religion podcast is a service of The World Union of Deists, a global network and educational outreach for Deism.

Show Time: Monday night, October 7, 2013, 6 Pacific / 7 Mountain / 8 Central / 9 Eastern (Additional time conversions at the World Time Server).

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