Is There A Basis For Ethics?

Dr. Peter May became a committed Christian at the age of 20 after carefully reading the New Testament. He trained in medicine at the Royal Free in London before spending three years as a staff worker for UCCF. During a career in General Practice in Southampton, he developed the Confident Christianity training course. In retirement, he chairs UCCF's Trust Board and writes, among other outlets, for bethinking.org.

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1. People are special because they are made in the image of God: sanctity of life; Collapses if God doesn’t exist.
2. Peter Singer – consequencialist: greatest happiness for the greatest number; quality of life ethic; good: pleasure; evil: pain and suffering
   1. moral decisions become very complicated; difficulty in predicting outcomes of actions for all animal-kind
   2. greatest happiness for the greatest number: What is happiness? How is it achieved?
   3. focus on outcomes ignores motives and aspirations
   4. Yuk! factor – infanticide, bestiality, paedophilia
3. Moral argument:
   • If God doesn’t exist, objective moral values don’t exist
   • Objective moral values do exist
   • Therefore God exists.

© Dr Peter May 2007
Source: This talk was originally given 16th Feb 2007 at Southampton University Christian Union and is used with permission. No part of this talk may be reproduced or transmitted in any form, or by any means, without the prior permission of the speaker.