About this topic
Moral arguments for God, ethical obligations, moral responsibility, religious and secular ethics, and the foundations of human flourishing.
Debates are grouped by their main question. Scores assess the reasoning presented, not the truth of a position. Read the assessment method.
Explore the assessments
Erik Wielenberg vs Adam Lloyd Johnson — What Is the Best Account of Objective Morality? · 2020
Wielenberg’s focused parity, intrinsic-value, and obligation challenges outperformed Johnson’s theistic grounding, though Johnson pressed a serious evolutionary reliability problem.
Adam Lloyd Johnson: 71 · Erik Wielenberg: 82. Scores assess the reasoning in this debate.
Michael Shermer vs Glen Scrivener — Can We Be Good Without God? · 2024
Scrivener narrowly wins by pressing universal human worth and outsider scope, while Shermer offers strong fallibilist reasons but leaves equal rights incompletely grounded.
Michael Shermer: 79 · Glen Scrivener: 82. Scores assess the reasoning in this debate.
Sam Harris vs Jonathan Haidt — Religion, moral truth, and human flourishing · 2016
Two naturalists contest whether broad well-being can ground moral truth, with Harris strongest on scope and Haidt strongest on psychology, institutions, and plural goods.
Sam Harris: 82 · Jonathan Haidt: 82. Scores assess the reasoning in this debate.
Matthew Adelstein vs Lance Bush: Moral Realism · 2021
Adelstein offers reflective and experiential evidence for realism; Bush more effectively challenges its interpretation, while both distinguish hypothetical consistency from harmful endorsement.
Matthew Adelstein: 79 · Lance Bush: 86. Scores assess the reasoning in this debate.
Joe Folley vs Glen Scrivener: Goodness Without God · 2025
Folley more successfully separates historical influence from necessary grounding, while Scrivener offers substantive Christian interpretations without establishing their exclusivity against non-theistic alternatives.
Joe Folley: 85 · Glen Scrivener: 76. Scores assess the reasoning in this debate.
Jordan Peterson vs Sam Harris: Can Religious Narratives Ground Morality and Meaning? · 2018
Harris wins narrowly by separating religious narratives’ genuine usefulness from truth and necessity, while Peterson exposes unresolved problems in secular value selection.
Jordan Peterson: 75 · Sam Harris: 81. Scores assess the reasoning in this debate.
Can There Be Morality Without God? Dinesh D'Souza vs. Peter Singer · 2008
Dinesh D'Souza and Peter Singer dispute whether moral obligations require God. D'Souza presses conscience, equality, sacrifice, history, and duty's authority, while Singer answers through reason, universal consideration, ethical progress, and Euthyphro.
Dinesh D'Souza: 71 · Peter Singer: 81. Scores assess the reasoning in this debate.
John Ferrer vs Matt Dillahunty: Do We Need God for Morality? · 2018
Ferrer grounds categorical morality and knowledge in God while Dillahunty defends publicly correctable wellbeing judgments and challenges scripture as divine guidance.
John Ferrer: 67 · Matt Dillahunty: 83. Scores assess the reasoning in this debate.
William Lane Craig vs Erik Wielenberg: God and Morality · 2018
Craig defended divine nature and commands as morality’s foundation; Wielenberg answered with irreducible normativity, explanatory parity, and sharper replies on agency.
William Lane Craig: 80 · Erik Wielenberg: 84. Scores assess the reasoning in this debate.
William Lane Craig vs Shelly Kagan: Is God Necessary for Morality? · 2009
Kagan's secular realism answers Craig's grounding challenge most effectively on finite significance and prudential conflict, while Craig presses a substantial explanatory-value objection.
William Lane Craig: 76 · Shelly Kagan: 85. Scores assess the reasoning in this debate.
Frank Turek vs Michael Shermer: Is Morality Better Explained by God or Science? · 2015
Turek pressed divine grounding and the is-ought gap; Shermer answered through sentient flourishing, autonomy, evolved capacities, and challenges about religious reliability.
Frank Turek: 76 · Michael Shermer: 79. Scores assess the reasoning in this debate.
David Wood vs Matt Dillahunty: God or Secular Humanism? · 2020
Wood pressed categorical obligation and transcendent worth, while Dillahunty more effectively defended revisable secular ethics and exposed gaps in divine grounding.
David Wood: 79 · Matt Dillahunty: 84. Scores assess the reasoning in this debate.
David Baggett vs Matt Dillahunty: The Moral Argument for God · 2018
Baggett’s qualified theistic explanation meets Dillahunty’s secular mechanisms, candidacy constraints, access objections, and hiddenness challenge across moral authority, knowledge, transformation, and flourishing.
David Baggett: 85 · Matt Dillahunty: 86. Scores assess the reasoning in this debate.
Matt Slick vs Scott Clifton: Does Objective Morality Require God? · 2014
Slick grounds universal morality in God's immutable character, while Clifton's secular alternatives and circularity objections more completely address objectivity, obligation, and impartial justification.
Matt Slick: 70 · Scott Clifton: 89. Scores assess the reasoning in this debate.
Sam Harris vs Jordan Peterson: God, Atheism, The Bible, Jesus · 2018
Peterson defends religious narrative as moral mediation and embodied guidance; Harris argues that well-being, causal inquiry, and revisability provide clearer secular foundations.
Jordan Peterson: 78 · Sam Harris: 84. Scores assess the reasoning in this debate.
Glen Scrivener vs Matt Dillahunty: Can Atheism Deliver a Better World? · 2020
Scrivener grounds dignity and obligation in Christianity; Dillahunty distinguishes atheism from secular humanism and advances a corrigible, human-centered moral foundation.
Glen Scrivener: 77 · Matt Dillahunty: 86. Scores assess the reasoning in this debate.
Sean McDowell vs Bart Ehrman: The Moral Argument, Guilt, and the Teachings of Jesus · 2026
McDowell presses objective obligation and progress; Ehrman explains universal charity historically while separating human moral experience from mind-independent grounding.
Sean McDowell: 86 · Bart Ehrman: 82. Scores assess the reasoning in this debate.
Alex O'Connor vs Frank Turek: The Moral Argument Debate · 2017
Turek grounds objective obligation in God; O'Connor distinguishes compelling moral experience from objectivity and offers evolutionary, psychological, and conditional explanations.
Frank Turek: 76 · Alex O'Connor: 87. Scores assess the reasoning in this debate.
Christopher Hitchens vs Marvin Olasky: Religion, Grace, and Secular Morality · 2007
Hitchens attacks supernatural authority and religious morality; Olasky counters through Christianity's grace, charitable fruits, historical credibility, and challenges to universal condemnation.
Christopher Hitchens: 80 · Marvin Olasky: 82. Scores assess the reasoning in this debate.
Cliffe Knechtle vs Alex O'Connor: Christianity, Scripture, and Morality · 2025
Knechtle presents Christianity as redemptive and context-sensitive, while O'Connor presses evidential, moral, slavery, and gender objections through specific scriptural counterexamples.
Cliffe Knechtle: 76 · Alex O'Connor: 87. Scores assess the reasoning in this debate.
William Lane Craig vs Sam Harris: The God Debate II · 2011
Craig defended divine nature and commands as morality's foundation; Harris grounded value in conscious well-being, producing evenly matched strengths and unresolved explanatory burdens.
William Lane Craig: 79 · Sam Harris: 79. Scores assess the reasoning in this debate.