Given your premise, your points are really well communicated and argued. The premise I see is taking a neutral or existential view and yet still examining God, Nature and Humanity through a moral lens. Per Heidegger and Sartre. , there is no meaning in the world into which we are thrown. To judge any aspect of God, Nature and Humanity is a choice—a choice in the simplest existential sense: it has no basis or justification in the world. In other words, the idea of right and wrong, winners and losers, is invented by the Self, and does not reflect or relate to anything beyond the Self.
One choice a person can make is to believe all people are essentially equal, that no one person’s life is more important than any other’s. Again, this is a choice, not a fact. Kant suggests that anyone could arrive at this normative conclusion through reason. Whether or not that’s true, it’s plausible. Further, per Patricia Churchland, we appear to be biologically programmed to care for close family members, which would condition us to believe other lives have value too.
Reputedly, Jesus said “love thy neighbor as thyself,” which is what a person would do to act upon a belief that humans are of equal value. I think there is reason to believe that some people believed: (1) caring about others was the right thing to do, or at least felt good doing; and (2) if the words of Jesus were true, that was objective reinforcement for caring about others.
In other words, if there is a God who promises the reward of heaven, it validates and supports caring about others--“I believe in caring for others because it seems right and is satisfying, and if I do that, it’s nice to know God is happy with me and will give me a bonus with a happy afterlife.” The idea of a bonus is a choice too. It appears as a crutch, an illusion or faith, depending on the perspective of an observer.
This attitude is a relatively simple choice to make in a world without meaning. I think it’s reasonable to see this attitude at the core of Christian principles. For me personally, whether or not God exists is not important, because the original impulse to care about others is a choice I respect. In this light, what happens in the world doesn’t matter.
Thank you for spurring me to think through these thoughts.
