"Without divinity there has been no moral authority either from the powerful or the wise. The fact remains that if one believes in a God one has an authority on which to construct morality. But in an age in which the deity is not present in apparent ways and is felt by many to be "dead," then on what is one to base a morality?
"...The feeling that the deity is not actively present, engaging in one-to-one treatment of human behavior leaves the individual free to act with impunity, without fear of punishment, without hope of reward. So why be good? Not that one can say what is good in a way that is guaranteed to persuade anyone else."
-- The Disappearance of God: A Divine Mystery, Richard Elliott Friedman, 1995, p. 213.
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