Studies show that a clear majority of Americans do not think it is necessary to believe in God to be moral.

Christians and Jews would argue with this statistic, but the bible confirms the statistic when it says that it is not necessary to believe in God to love your neighbor. Continue reading to understand why this is true.

People who claim follow the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (i.e. Jews and Christians) believe that they have an inherent, exceptional, God-given ability to love their neighbors. Their self-righteousness deceives them into believing that they automatically and instinctively obey all of God’s commandments — including the one about loving your neighbor — without exception because they believe in God and are created in his image.  Christians also believe that, because they love and follow Jesus, they automatically love their neighbors. These beliefs blind Jews and Christians to the truth about the harm they do to themselves and others.

Jews and Christians also believe that atheists, agnostics, freethinkers, secular humanists, rationalists and followers of other religions (collectively categorized as “unbelievers” and “gentiles”) do not have the ability or desire to obey God’s command to love their neighbors as themselves. They are wrong about these matters just like they are wrong about qualifications for morality. The truth is that many — maybe all — unbelievers are not deceived about these things. Intuitively, these so-called unbelievers understand that belief in God, and religious piety are not prerequisites for living moral lives or loving their neighbors. They may not believe in the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob but they do believe in and practice the values that are necessary for healthy relationships. Jews and Christians will be surprised and humbled to learn that many of these values are represented in God’s commandments.

Self-righteous religious people would not easily accept that people who are not religious and skeptical that God exists do a much better job of obeying God’s commands about loving and caring for one another. Why non-religious people have a greater disposition toward loving their neighbor than religious people is a mystery, but possible explanations could include  the following:

• • They have not been trained as children to to show partiality and preference toward others who are not like them.
  • Injustices they have experienced as religious outcasts makes them sensitive to injustices of all kinds — including religious oppression and abuse.
  • They are raised with a cultural predisposition to care for others. ‎

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While we have these possible explanations for why non-religious people might be especially inclined to love and care for others, we have an explanation in Romans 2:11-15.

For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God’s sight, but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous. Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law, they show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts.

Here is the right way to interpret this scripture:

God’s standard for righteousness depends on obedience to his law regarding loving your neighbor as yourself — not on self-righteous religious behaviors. People — including those who are not Jews and Christians — who instinctively (i.e. not in obedience to religious laws) love their neighbors and work to correct injustices in their neighbors lives show evidence that the requirement of God’s law to love your neighbor is written on their hearts.

This principle is reinforced in Matthew 5::44-45:

But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.

Here is the right way to interpret this scripture:

Love for your enemies does not mean having emotional human feelings for your enemies. Love always references Godly love — not human love. See this link for understanding of Godly love.

Prayer is a matter of what is in you heart. People who love their neighbors in their hearts are actually praying according to God’s definition of prayer. Verbal and mental prayer is religion’s idea of prayer — not God’s idea. See this link for understanding of what prayer and is not.

Sun and rain are symbolic references to God’s spoken words which are his laws written on hearts. Anyone can hear God’s spoken word. Righteous hearers are people who have God’s laws written on their hearts and act on what is in their hearts. Unrighteous hearers are religious people who hear God’s words but do not act on what they hear. Atheists and agnostics don’t realize that they have heard God’s words but the evidence that they have heard exists in the things they say and do that show love for their neighbor. Even though they do not believe in God, their love for their neighbors is clear evidence that God’s laws are written on their hearts.

Jews and Christians are profoundly hypocritical in many ways but especially on the matter of loving their neighbors. Hypocrisy is not a problem for unbelievers who seem to have an acute ability to know injustice when they see it and a strong internal drive to correct injustice by caring for the needs of their neighbors. They are not concerned about obedience to religious laws but they are concerned about the well-being of their neighbors. This makes them righteous in God’s eyes.

It is counterintuitive for anyone to  to accept of that lack of religious training, aversion to religious practices, and even disbelief in God can be useful assets when it comes to loving your neighbor. The story of the Good Samaritan explains the contradiction.

God does not need religious people to make the world better. Nor does he need self-righteous religious people to make proud verbal confessions about their belief in him. He just needs people to follow their heart instincts to love their neighbors as themselves. The neighborly love they sow is good seed that yields a harvest of love in others. That is how the world becomes a better place.