began performing them here more or less States. antichoice groups. Recently, because of the on demand after a desperate Hungarian Despite this, no issue today is as hotly rehearing of the abortion issue by the refugee had persuaded him to terminate her debated as abortion rights. Opposing it is a Supreme Court and the advent of RU486, pregnancy; soon women were being referred loosely knit coalition of religious funda- the so-called abortion pill developed in to him by a local abortion-support unit, and mentalists of various types—conservative France, antichoice activity has intensified. he continued to help them until he was Catholics, Protestants, Jews, and Mor- In a last-ditch effort to change public arrested in 1964. His case became the first mons—who have defined life as beginning opinion, prolifers have adopted the tactics to make a frontal attack on the abortion at conception and themselves as its of the civil-rights movement and flung it laws. In 1969 he was acquitted in the U.S. guardians. They have declared a holy war into the face of the liberal supporters of District Court and the decision made the on all health professionals who participate abortion. If they succeed they may be able nation's capital the only area in the United in abortions, all women who seek them, and to prevent the entry of RU486 into the States where completely legalized abortions all supporters of the right to choose. They United States since, once the pill becomes were available. His acquittal, along with that demonstrate, burn clinics, and carry out available, abortion becomes a private issue. of Dr. Leon Belous, a founding member of successful single-issue political campaigns. If RU486 cannot be obtained with the bless- Californians for Therapeutic Abortions, gave It is a mistake to underestimate the poli- ing of the federal government, however, a new vigor to the movement. In 1970 Hawaii tical power of these groups. Ronald Reagan black market will develop and abortion will became the first state to legalize what came was the governor of the State of California again go underground. to be called abortion on demand. when the Beilinson law was passed—he It is to be hoped that the antichoice By 1969 the National Association for the signed it. The 1980 presidential campaign, movement will fail, but if it is successful, Repeal of the Abortion Laws had come into however, quickly converted him into a the United States will certainly have more existence, urging abortion on demand. By vigorous antichoice defender. The most lawbreakers than it has now. Interestingly, June 1972, a Gallup Poll indicated that 64 damaging aspect of this was his insistence the same individuals who are opposed to percent of the American population, in- that most of the justices he appointed agree advances in civil rights seem to be opposed cluding 56 percent of those who identified with him on this issue. to abortion; they shift their strategy from themselves as Catholics, agreed that the Many of the activists who helped to one issue to the other as they ride the tides decision to abort should be made solely by achieve abortion rights rested on their laurels of publicity. Humanists have been in the a woman and her physician. Conservative after 1973, so that although public-opinion forefront of the fight for abortion, not only organizations such as the American Bar polls continue to show majority support for in the United States but in Canada and Association and the American College of the prochoice position, prochoice activity has Europe. We must now recommit to the Obstetricians and Gynecologists agreed. been meager relative to the activities of the struggle. It is one we will win. • A number of cases were working their way up the ladder to the Supreme Court but the one that arrived at the top first was Roe v. Wade. "Jane Roe" of Dallas County, Texas, had instituted action in federal court The Morality of Unbelief in March 1970 seeking a declaratory judg- ment that the Texas criminal abortion statutes—which had not been modified for Tom Flynn a century—were unconstitutional and pre- vented her, an unmarried and pregnant Even when a man's belief is so fixed that Next, the believers ready the second part woman, from terminating her pregnancy he cannot think otherwise, he still has a of their one-two punch. If the humanists choice in regard to the action suggested through an abortion performed by a com- happen to criticize any religious practice, petent licensed physician under safe, clinical by it, and so cannot escape the duty of investigating on the ground of the however extreme, on moral grounds, the conditions. She claimed that the Texas strength of his convictions.... For it is believers accuse them of hypocrisy. "I statute violated the First, Fourth, Fifth, not possible to so sever the belief from thought you were pluralistic!" they cry. Ninth, and Fourteenth Amendments. Al- the action it suggests as to condemn .the "How dare you impugn anyone's morality one side without condemning the other. though the District Court gave her declara- simply on the basis of their beliefs!" tory relief, allowing her to have an abortion, —William Kingdon Clifford Stated that way, the absurdities in this it stopped short of issuing an injunction stratagem are obvious. Still, in actual discus- against the enforcement of the Texas sta- sions many humanists—especially those who tutes. In 1973, however, the Supreme Court ave pity on secular humanists. When are not trained in philosophy—find effective declared the Texas laws unconstitutional and Hthey engage religious believers in responses elusive. recognized that a woman's right to choose moral debate, the result is often a double Though I am not a philosopher, it is my abortion was part of her fundamental right bind. contention that belief without empirical to privacy. First, many believers dismiss humanists justification is morally illicit, as is the as immoral on the basis of their unbelief. willingness to act on such an unjustified robably no Supreme Court decision in This handy way to win the argument before belief. Furthermore, far from being inherent- this century has been so important to it begins has a certain homespun logic to it. ly immoral, unbelief is an inherently moral attempts to secure the liberty, equality, and If one starts out by assuming a transcendent position. health of women as this 1973 decision. It lawgiver—whose existence the debate is sup- Secular humanists tend to be pluralists; transformed abortion from a clandestine and posedly intended to explore—how can any- most agree that individuals have the right sometimes dangerous ordeal into one of the one who does not believe in Him, Her, It, to believe just about anything they wish. safest medical procedures in the United or Them lead a moral life? The content of belief is a matter of personal

6 FREE INQUIRY choice that we defend vigorously, though supported beliefs that predispose them to immoral act of the highest order. It is the others may choose to embrace beliefs we unacceptable behavior—if we can speak uncritical believer, not the skeptic, whose consider unjustified and foolish. Still, even meaningfully about moral accountability for epistemological stance is immoral. doctrinaire pluralists distinguish between the the content of one's motivating beliefs. I freedom to assent to almost any proposition, believe that we can. The forgotten skeptic and the morality of assenting to a particular I would propose the following general proposition whose content all but guarantees rule for gauging accountability for beliefs. ew of the points I have made here are that the person who accepts it will behave If one acts on one's beliefs in such a way new. They were made far more elo- in ways that may compromise the freedom F as to affect others, one can be held morally quently in 1877 by William Kingdon Clif- of others. accountable for one's decision to accept the ford, a professor at University College, Lon- As the saying goes, "The right to throw motivating belief according to: don, whose name is not as well known my fist ends at the tip of your nose." Though among humanists as it ought to be. In his it is my right to subscribe to any creed, how- (I) how profoundly actions based on that elegant essay "The Ethics of Belief," Clifford ever bizarre, in the privacy of my own head, belief may influence the lives of others, wrote: that does not necessarily give me the right and (2) how accurately that belief does—or to impose the consequences of my belief does not—correspond to the way Belief . . . is desecrated when given to upon others. If I want to give certain of my things really work in the natural world unproved and unquestioned statements, beliefs concrete expression in the commun- as empirical study reveals it to us. for the solace and private pleasure of the ity, I owe it to the community to weigh believer; to add a tinsel splendour to the plain straight road of life and display a those beliefs more carefully than I might According to this rule, if we propose to bright mirage beyond it; or even to drown examine those with which I do not expect act in ways that have grave consequences— the common sorrows of our kind by a to influence others. say, if we plan to blockade an abortion clinic self-deception which allows them not only If I do expect to treat a certain idea as a because we are right-to-life advocates, or to cast down, but also to degrade us... . It is wrong in all cases to believe on insuf- "motivating belief," that is, one that will propose to deny our offspring needed med- ficient evidence; and where it is presump- influence my public behavior, by what stan- ical care because of our Christian Science tion to doubt and investigate, there it is dard shall I evaluate it? I could evaluate it beliefs—then we behave immorally unless worse than presumption to believe... . on grounds of internal consistency, or by our motivating beliefs are independently No simplicity of mind, no obscurity of station, can escape the universal duty of asking whether it is congruent with beliefs I verifiable according to the laws of the every- questioning all that we believe. have previously accepted. If I did that, I day world in which our actions will have would be weighing my motivating beliefs by their consequences. Clifford argued forcefully that accepting any the axiomatic rules that govern private cog- belief without free and probing inquiry con- nition. The problem with religious belief stituted immoral behavior. He also observed But there is good reason to reject this the psychological truth that strong belief can standard. After all, I do not interact with he problem is that some beliefs almost compromise the believer's capacity to evalu- other people in the realm of private cogni- necessarily lead the people who accept T ate his or her convictions fairly and accu- tion. I encounter them in an apparently them into action because of the nature of rately through scientific means: objective outside world, where effect seems their content. To accept such beliefs at all is to follow cause according to physical laws almost inevitably to accept them as motiva- No man holding a strong belief on one whose mysteries are susceptible to scientific ting beliefs. side of a question, or even wishing to hold inquiry. By comparing my own observations Clearly, religious beliefs fall into this a belief on one side, can investigate it with against those of others and testing my con- category. Most familiar religious creeds posit such fairness and completeness as if he clusions experimentally, I can take advan- some kind of absolute justification for were really in doubt and unbiased; so that tage of powerful checks and balances that the existence of a belief not founded on assenting to their propositions. They may, fair inquiry unfits a man for the per- protect me against inadvertent error. for example, be ascribed to the personal formance of this necessary duty. I have no similar protections in the realm authorship of the alleged creator of the of private cognition. Indeed, one of the universe. Beliefs that claim such profound Clifford's "Ethics of Belief' is one of the defining characteristics of private cognition justification are not merely intended to be hidden gems of the epistemological litera- is that reality-checking and error-detection assented to; they are intended to be acted ture. It is unfortunate that the essay is not are hard to come by. upon. If one sincerely believes almost any better circulated in secular humanist circles. body of religious propositions on its own It forever puts to rest the idea that a believer A general rule for assessing the terms, one can scarcely avoid taking actions can stand in a morally superior position to morality of belief that affect others without hypocrisy. a skeptic simply because he or she believes, Now we can address the first part of the and clearly demonstrates why the believer f centuries of physical and intellectual double bind—the claim that secular human- who has chosen to assent to a motivating Iprogress tell us anything, it is that no ists are disqualified from moral discourse belief without compelling evidence courts methodology yields more reliable knowledge because they lack such-and-such a meta- grave moral risk. about the outside world than empirical in- physical belief. Not only can we shrug off There is one other reason why it is sur- vestigation. Without skipping too many that accusation; we can turn it around and prising that Clifford's essay is not better steps, perhaps we can move from this insight thrust it back at our opponents. Religious known. It directly inspired William James's to a concept that lets us address the second beliefs are almost always motivating beliefs. 1896 lecture, "The Will to Believe," perhaps part of the humanist debater's double bind. Therefore to accept any body of religious modern philosophy's most respectable cele- There is no hypocrisy in being a pluralist propositions without first subjecting it to bration of impulsive credence. James under- and yet criticizing others for embracing un- the most detailed scientific scrutiny is an took the "defence of our right to adopt a

Spring 1989 7 believing attitude in religious matters, in believers debate about morals, there is no (where he himself will soon be sentenced to spite of the fact that our merely logical reason for humanists to feel that their lack death), questions him on the nature of intellect may not have been coerced." As of belief puts them at any moral disad- impiety. It becomes clear that the young man the twentieth century unfolded, "The Will vantage. Nor must we feel that our commit- has no real notion of why the gods decree to Believe" would contribute significantly to ment to intellectual pluralism forces us into certain actions to be moral and others the erosion of critical thinking and the scien- universal moral relativism. We can object immoral. Socrates asks the vital question: is tific outlook. James was seized upon by the quite strongly on moral grounds to beliefs an action right because the gods say it is, or popularizers of neo-Romanticism and anti- that give rise to certain unacceptable be- do the gods concur with it because it is right? intellectualism in much the same way that haviors without being hypocrites. For instance, if the gods were to suddenly Nietzsche was lionized—and later distort- Even more important, we can justifiably decree that all left-handed people should be ed—by the ideologues of the Third Reich. challenge the morality of unquestioned—or slaughtered, would it be right to slaughter The Jamesian tradition of free belief un- inadequately questioned—belief. If the con- them? Such a question cuts to the very heart derlies one of the most delicious ironies in tent of a certain belief is such that assenting of all divinely sanctioned ethical systems. the whole debate over morality and religion. to it will almost certainly motivate you to Humanists frequently point out that reli- Conservative believers often attack human- behave in ways that affect the lives of others, gious beliefs can in fact lead one to perform ists' moral fiber by claiming that we teach then you accept moral risk if you assent to harmful, immoral actions. One need only "If it feels good, do it." I know few human- that belief without the most careful empirical think of the Catholic Inquisition, the Muslim ists of whom that is true. But I know plenty scrutiny. Secular humanists apply such scru- holy wars, and the Indian sect of Thuggee of eager partisans on the religious side of tiny every day, which justifies us in claim- to see how acts of awful violence can some- the debate who richly deserve moral censure ing—if, one hopes, only sparingly—that our how be permitted because of religious con- for practicing "If it feels good, believe it." reluctance to believe is morally superior to victions. To quote Bob Dylan, "You don't When secular humanists and religious the religious communicant's ardent faith. • count the dead when God's on your side." Still, if religion is not the basis for human morality, two questions naturally arise. First, what then is the basis for morality, and second, how can we teach moral values without the use of religious symbols? The issue of morality's origin is by no Humanism and the Roots means simple, but several nonreligious theories have been set forth. Perhaps the most exciting work being done in this area of Morality is in Cooperation Theory (see p. 41). Game theorists such as Robert Axelrod and Anatol Rapaport provide a model in which it is in a person's best interest not to lie, cheat, or Tim Madigan harm his or her competitors. They hold that such a model applies to human behavior in n Sunday, July 7, 1776, James Boswell, What particularly disturbed Boswell (so general. It can benefit the community as a Oconfidant and biographer of Samuel much so that he had bad dreams about it whole and lead to increased prosperity and Johnson, paid a visit to the famed Scottish for months afterward) was Hume's stoic harmony. Granted, religious structures may philosopher and skeptic David Hume at his courage in the face of death; apparently the make cooperative exchanges more poetic, home in Edinburgh. Hume was on his philosopher was able to confront death with and perhaps more palatable, but the basis deathbed, and Boswell wished to determine the satisfaction of a life well led, and without for the exchanges remains completely secu- whether he was continuing his denial of an fear of being held accountable for his actions lar. "Do unto others as you'd have them do afterlife so near to his own demise. As a by a Supreme Judge. What, Boswell, pon- unto you" is sound advice, with or without devout Christian (the reason he gave for dered, was the basis of Hume's morality if a sacred veneer. stopping to see Hume on a Sunday morning not the Christian faith? The second question is one with which was that it was too late for him to go to The question of the relationship between many humanists must struggle. I know of church!), Boswell was unnerved that some- religion and morality is a time-honored one. some nonreligious parents who have felt it one so obviously decent and moral was not Does religion provide the backbone for right necessary to send their children to sectarian religious. From Boswell's point of view, conduct and actions? Without a god to keep schools to receive a thorough training in morality itself originates from religion. He us in line, would all hell break loose (meta- morality, which they feel the public schools was therefore not amused by Hume's re- phorically speaking, of course)? This issue do not provide. We should not automatically marks on the subject: goes back at least to the time of Plato. He scoff at this. Organized religions are, if deals with it in his dialogue the Euthyphro, nothing else, powerful transmitters of virtue: in which the title character is a callow Christians have before them Jesus Christ as He then said flatly that the morality of every religion was bad, and, I really know-it-all bent upon persecuting his own a paradigm of human gentleness and love. thought, was not jocular when he said that father for murder—not because he's particu- Buddhists follow the model of the com- when he heard a man was religious, he larly upset by the action itself (the victim passionate Buddha, who sought to alleviate concluded that he was a rascal, though he was a slave of the father's), but because to human suffering. And Muslims are inspired had known some instances of very good commit murder is against the will of the by the life of Mohammed, whose writings men being religious. This was just an extravagant reverse of the common remark gods, and so is impious. Socrates, who meets provide guidelines for leading a virtuous as to infidels.I with Euthyphro outside the courtroom existence. While we can, and must, raise

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