What It Means to Be Moral: Why Religion Is Not Necessary for Living an Ethical Life

Phil Zuckerman

Sep 2019 · Highbridge Audio · Narrated by Paul Brion

About this audiobook

The author of Living the Secular Life deconstructs the arguments for a morality informed by religion, urging that major challenges like global warming and growing inequality are best approached from a framework of secular morality. In What It Means to Be Moral: Why Religion Is Not Necessary for Living an Ethical Life, Phil Zuckerman argues that morality does not come from God. Rather, it comes from us: our brains, our evolutionary past, our ongoing cultural development, our social experiences, and our ability to reason, reflect, and be sensitive to the suffering of others. By deconstructing religious arguments for God-based morality and guiding listeners through the premises and promises of secular morality, Zuckerman argues that the major challenges facing the world today-from global warming and growing inequality to religious support for unethical political policies to gun violence and terrorism-are best approached from a nonreligious ethical framework. In short, we need to look to our fellow humans and within ourselves for moral progress and ethical action.

About the author

Phil Zuckerman is the author of several books, including The Nonreligious, Living the Secular Life, and Society Without God. He is a professor of sociology at Pitzer College and the founding chair of the nation's first Secular Studies program. He lives in Claremont, California, with his wife and three children.

Paul Brion has a passion for storytelling. He believes that audiobooks-our most current form of the oral tradition-are the purest of the interactive and co-creative arts. An autodidact with eclectic interests, he enjoys learning about a wide variety of subjects, as he has an avaricious hunger for knowledge.