Michael Medved, a talk show host, posed this question on his show. He assumed that if there was no omnipotent, everywhere present, score-keeping God, we would cheat on our spouse or neighbor if we thought we could get away without penalty. He informed his audience that he went to Yale Law School with Bill Clinton. Consequently, it seemed ironic that he would ask the question because no matter what one thinks of Bill Clinton as President, his God beliefs did not appear to inhibit his many infidelities. Neither did it stop John Kennedy.

One could construct an experiment to discern whether a God believer, an atheist, or a humanist would be more likely to cheat. A clerk at a grocery store could pretend to not know that she had returned too much change to each of these categories of believers and then ascertain who would be most likely to return the misbegotten change. The results could then be compared.

The evidence we have from history doesn't suggest that the rewards of heaven or the fear of hell have been very effective social controls. The institution that holds the largest percent of God believers is our prisons. Children in parochial schools cheat more often than children in public schools. Religious Crusades and ethnic cleansing have been the handiwork of dogmatic believers as well as dogmatic nonbelievers.

Ethical humanists internalize their values. They do the right thing because it befits their character. People of character honor their commitments, keep their promises, treat others fairly, and do service for their community because it is consistent with their valuing themselves. Being honorable has its own rewards, as people in the community respect honorable people, and they serve as good role models for their children. On the other hand, people who make public pronouncements about their self righteousness are often suspect. Jimmy Baker, Jimmy Swaggert, and Newt Gingrich are examples of public hypocrites who use religion as a cover.

We can leave it to others to determine whether people are more likely not to cheat because it is inconsistent with their character or because an invisible superpower may punish them after they die.

--Gordon Gamm
reprinted from the January/February 2000 edition of The Colorado Humanist.