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Hardwired for Moral Behavior - Polygraph Test — Polygraph Test

A question that evolutionists and naturalists cannot answer is why even atheists follow a moral code. I have seen this personally in my family. My father was an atheist, a philosophy professor, and a disciple of the philosopher John Dewey. He wrestled with the question of morality throughout his career. The truth is that my father was a very moral man. He never cheated anyone, taught his kids to be honest, never plagiarized or misrepresented a colleague’s or student’s work, never cheated on his taxes, and, as far as I know, was completely faithful to my mother. When I became a Christian, I asked him why he was so moral and honest, and he simply said, “I don’t know.” Is it possible that humans are hardwired for moral behavior?

An article in Scientific American by Elizabeth Svoboda titled “The Neuroscience of Morality” provides substantial evidence that morality is not learned or a product of evolution. Svoboda noted that physical disgust and moral disgust are “uniquely connected.” A key statement in the article is, “When we first become aware of an ethical violation, we’re hardwired to react much as we might to a steaming cow pie” (A cow pie is a pile of manure left by a cow). However, the article suggests there is a slippery slope: once you start acting immorally, such as by lying or cheating, it becomes easier to continue. Conversely, when people act morally in tempting situations, it becomes easier to have moral courage next time.

Titus 1:2 states that God cannot lie. Since we are created in the image of God, we are hardwired for moral behavior, including telling the truth. A child can learn to lie, but as a parent, I could look into my young child’s eyes and tell whether they were being honest. By the time kids become teenagers, they have learned to lie so convincingly that only a polygraph can reveal the truth. When adults are conditioned to lie, they often become unstable and may need psychological help.

The scientific evidence is clear. Humans are unique in many ways, but one key feature is that we are hardwired for moral behavior, which stems from being created in the image of God. Animals, however, do not have a moral code because they are not created in God’s image.

Reference: “The Neuroscience of Morality” by Elizabeth Svoboda in the November issue of Scientific American (pages 32-39

Lying seems to be a heavily used skill in today’s political climate. The fact that there is so much deception in politics is interesting to me because as an atheist I viewed deception as a survival skill. When I was a child, my mother took me to narrated movie shows on nature. These were 16 mm movies filmed by photographers usually associated with The Audubon Society or The National Geographic Society. The person who did the filming usually was the narrator, and that added color and personality to what we saw on the screen.

My mother usually had an object lesson for me at the end of those films and deception was a major theme. My favorite film was an underwater movie about reef fish. The scene I liked most involved an ugly fish known as the anglerfish. This fish would lie on the bottom and dangle a piece of flesh that was worm-shaped in front of its mouth on a rod attached to its head. The fish would wiggle the lure to attract reef fish. When a fish came close to investigate, the anglerfish would suddenly lurch forward and swallow the fish whole.

My mother seized on the moment to tell me that I needed to learn a lesson about life from the anglerfish. That lesson in her atheist perspective was that life is hard and to survive we must to learn to deceive and not be deceived. Later in my efforts as an atheist, I would maintain that deception is simply survival of the fittest. The fit survive by deceiving and exploiting the unfit.

I always had good results using this to support my atheist arguments. When I tried to justify stealing money from my mother, it was less effective. I protested by referring the anglerfish, but she screamed at me, “You’re not a fish!!”

Now looking back at that from a Christian apologetic position I have to say “Bingo!!” But from her atheistic evolutionary perspective, I AM no more than a fish. When we have so much deception in politics, that is an indication of the perspective of our elected officials.
–John N. Clayton © 2017