Jordan Peterson on Morality without God
Peterson argues that secular societies cannot sustain morality without the religious narratives that ground their values.
Peterson's position on morality without God is one of his most contested. He argues that the values of the secular West — individual rights, the dignity of the person, the primacy of conscience — are derived from the Judeo-Christian tradition and cannot be sustained without their religious foundation. Cut off from their roots, these values will wither.
He challenges the New Atheist claim that reason alone can ground morality, arguing that reason is instrumental — it tells you how to achieve your goals but cannot tell you which goals to pursue. The fundamental values that make morality possible — the sacredness of the individual, the reality of good and evil — are, on Peterson's account, religious insights, not scientific ones.
Peterson points to the horrors of the twentieth century — Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union, Maoist China — as evidence of what happens when societies abandon religious morality without finding an adequate replacement. The death of God, as Nietzsche predicted, leads not to rational utopia but to nihilism and totalitarianism.
“The fundamental presupposition of Western civilisation is that every individual is made in the image of God. You can't just take that out and expect the rest to hold together.”
“Nietzsche said that God is dead and that we killed him. He also said that we would not find enough water to wash away the blood.”