If There Is No God: The Battle Over Who Defines Good and Evil by Dennis Prager - 1

Everyone knows the consequences of too much religion, such as fanaticism, intolerance, and persecution. Far fewer people know the consequences of too much secularism or even acknowledge the notion of too much secularism. That, which also incorporates the issue of values versus feelings, is the subject of this book.

In 1992, thirty-four years before the publication of this book, I was invited to speak to seventy-four teens about God, values, and feelings. It’s a rare lecture that incorporates objections, let alone objections from seventy-four people. And for the first time in their lives, much to their surprise, they were told that their most deeply held feelings might be morally wrong.

Four sessions were held over a weekend outside of Omaha, Nebraska, for young people from throughout the Midwest. The entire weekend was organized and recorded by Joel Alperson, who has made my Torah commentary and this book possible. Without him, his labor, and his insights, none of those books would have been written. My work had deeply affected his life in the 1980s, and he has devoted a good part of his life to disseminating my ideas ever since.

As it turned out, the young people at this weekend asked some of the best and most challenging questions. Not one question was dated. They could have been asked yesterday, because they all touch on large questions about life, freedom, Israel, America, Western civilization, Judeo-Christian values, marriage, why to have children, and many other perpetually relevant themes.

Over the years, I’ve done more talks and answered more questions. Most people have the same questions on the same subjects, but most have given up on posing them. Most adults who have rejected God or the Bible as the source of objective morality did so when they were young. They received no rational responses to their questions, only faith-based responses. This book is for them as much as it is for the believers.

It is not a coincidence that the most secular century in history was also the bloodiest in history. Between Nazism and Communism—two secular doctrines—approximately 150 million non-combatants were killed. The death of God has led to massive deaths of men, women, and children. It also appears to be leading to the death of Western civilization.

Europe has lost its Judeo-Christian origins. As the British prime minister Margaret Thatcher said in 1998, “The moral foundation of this system is the Judeo-Christian outlook—the message of the Old and New Testament, that each and every person matters.”

As early as 1798, John Adams described America’s values as rooted in biblical values. In a letter to the Massachusetts militia, he wrote, “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”

The terms “Torah,” “Bible,” and “Hebrew Bible” that I use throughout this book are not necessarily the same thing. The Torah is part of the Bible for both Jews and Christians, and it consists of the first five books of the Bible: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. When I use the term “Hebrew Bible,” I am referring specifically to the Jewish scriptures, often referred to as the “Old Testament,” which are part of the Bible for both Jews and Christians. When I use the term “the Bible,” the reader is free to translate it as both the Old and New Testaments or just the Old Testament.

I want to thank two individuals who, in addition to Joel Alperson, were instrumental to the writing of this book: Eric Nelson, vice president of Broadside Books, a division of HarperCollins, who made the publication of this book possible both as publisher and editor; Susan Prager, my wife, who edited the entire manuscript, as she has edited virtually everything I have written in the last eighteen years, including about eight hundred columns and five books.

A certain percentage of this book was written by dictation and editing from my hospital bed. In November 2024 I suffered a catastrophic injury resulting from a fall that rendered me paralyzed from the shoulders down. Were it not for Joel Alperson, the book would not have been finished. We completed the book together. It is a testament to how important we both consider this work.

Dennis Prager

July 2025