Two Religion-Centered Moral Theories
1. Divine Command Theory: “morally right” is a matter of being commanded by God and “morally wrong” is a matter of being forbidden by God. (see Rachels p.54)
2. Natural Law Theory: God, in creating human beings, determined that which is good for us and also determined the rules by which we should act.

Divine Command Theory
“Morally right” is a matter of being commanded by God and “morally wrong” is a matter of being forbidden by God. Rachels p.54
• Rachels notes that under this (1) view right and wrong are objectively true or false (and not relative from culture to culture) and (2) we have a prudential reason to be moral.

A Question For The Divine Command Theorist
In one of Plato’s (427-347 B.C.) dialogues called the Euthyphro we find Socrates (470-379 B.C.) asking (a variation of) this famous question:
Is conduct right because God commands it, or does God command the conduct because it is right?

Considering The Options
I. Something is right just because God commands it.
• Rachels notes that in Exodus 20:16 God commands us to be truthful. (see p.55). To this he raises three objections.
1. This makes morality mysterious - how does God make something right and can he make anything right?
2. This makes God’s commands arbitrary.
3. This is not a good reason for moral principles. Consider child abuse. Is it wrong only because God says so?
• Another strange consequence.
4. If “x is good” equals by definition “x is commanded by God” then we could not sensibly ask the question “Are God’s commands good?”.
• For the question could only mean “Are God’s commands commanded by God?”

Considering The Options II
II. God commands something because it is right.
• Rachels notes that this option means “we are acknowledging a standard of right and wrong that is independent of God’s will. The rightness exists prior to God’s command, and is the reason for the command.” Rachels p.57
• This implies that the atheist and agnostic can try to be ethical too without relying upon a particular religion.

Natural Law Theory
There are three main elements to natural law theory, the official ethical theory of the Roman Catholic Church.
1. The ancient Greek idea that the universe has a rational order and everything in it has a purpose.
• Consider Aristotle’s (384-322 B.C.) quote on p.59 of our text.
• Later Christian thinkers, like St.Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274), adopted this idea and posited that God is the creator of the rational order and the purpose(s) things have.
2. The laws of nature describe not only how things are but also how things ought to be.
“But there are implications for human conduct. Moral rules are now viewed as deriving from the laws of nature. Some ways of behaving are said to be “natural” while others are “unnatural”; and the “unnatural” acts are said to be morally wrong.” Rachels, p.60

Natural Law Theory Interlude - Two Examples
1.According to the Catholic Church it is natural to be charitable.
• This is natural for us, given the kind of creatures we are.
2. According to the Catholic Church it is unnatural to be a homosexual.
• This is sexual practice not connected with making babies and therefore unnatural given the functional role of human beings and their sexual organs.

Natural Law Theory
3. That which is natural is determined by reason.
• As Rachels’s points out, “the Theory of Natural Law” endorses the familiar idea that the right thing to do has the best reasons on its side.” Rachels, p.61
“To disparage the dictate of reason is equivalent to condemning the command of God.”St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica