Be Good for Goodness’ Sake

Oh brother. If you haven’t seen it, the American Humanist Association has initiated a $40,000.00 ad campaign “trying to plant a seed of rational thought and critical thinking and questioning in people’s minds.” They are seeking to tap into the antipathy that non-religious people have toward Christianity, particularly during the Christmas season. Acknowledging “there are an awful lot of agnostics, atheists and other types of non-theists who feel a little alone during the holidays because of its association with traditional religion,” the group wants to stimulate comraderie among such disenfranchised souls, challenging them toward a more modernist way of thinking by playing off the sentiments of traditional Christmas jingles such as “Santa Claus is Coming to Town,” from which comes such pithy exhortations like “Why believe in a god? Just be good for goodness’ sake.”

Of course the dirty little secret of such supposedly brilliant logic is that without God there is no real standard for good. Good is whatever the individual defines it to be. Indeed, one might believe that having a harem of teenage girls (take some of the western Mormonized cults that have been in the media lately) is “good.” Another person might believe that flying planes loaded with unsuspecting passengers into tall buildings is “good,” for it achieves some geopolitical ends. Yet another might believe that refusing to pay taxes is “good” because there is a preservation of one’s own resources without supporting wierd government policies. Indeed, perhaps today one will lock her kids in backseat of the car in subfreezing weather so she can go party inside the honky tonk for a few hours because it is “good” for her to find a date.

According to the Associated Press, “The group defines humanism as ‘a progressive philosophy of life that, without theism, affirms our responsibility to lead ethical lives of value to self and humanity.'” But again, who is it that defines “ethical values” and “responsibility?” It would appear that despite their naive claims, this is really an invitation toward utter self-determination with no real accountability. How does that add value to “humanity?”

Of course, Jesus, that great teacher that is even lauded by the humanist elite for his professorial ways, declares in Mark 10:18: Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone.

Indeed–which is why God is absolutely necessary if we wish to be good for goodness’ sake.

[Click here for the Associated Press news article]