Single Idea 20701

[catalogued under 28. God / A. Divine Nature / 6. Divine Morality / a. Divine morality]

Full Idea

We may wonder whether God can be good since he has not produced more moral goodness than he has. We may wonder whether God is guilty by neglect.

Gist of Idea

Can God be good, if he has not maximised goodness?

Source

Brian Davies (Introduction to the Philosophy of Religion [1982], 3 'Freedom')

Book Reference

Davies,Brian: 'An Introduction to the Philosophy of Religion' [OUP 1993], p.46


A Reaction

The orthodox response is that we cannot possibly know what the maximum of moral goodness would look like, so we can't make this judgement. Atheists say that God fails by human standards, which are not particularly high.