Bread and Roses is a TV magazine show hosted by Maryam Namazie, Fariborz Pooya and Bahram Soroush and broadcast in Iran in both English and Persian. The latest episode is a discussion of ‘Morality without God’, part of which features a conversation between myself and Maryam (that part of the show begins around 7 minutes in).
Pandaemonium 
There is something entirely missing from this – and indeed Kenan’s otherwise scholarly book – the existential means by which we actually grapple with life. Aside from Grayling, almost no philosophical/cultural commentators dare put their putatively secular ethics to the test – in Syria perhaps, Gaza, Kosovo, Israel, Somalia, Niger, ………… where God has actually shown some colours.
It’s simply too easy to be an ethicist and yet not be engaged – a lesson, a warning, given by Sartre 60 years ago.
I’m not sure what the point is that you are making here. What do you mean by ‘engagement’ and in what way do I not put my ‘ethics to the test’? After all, one of the key points in The Quest for a Moral Compass is that it is precisely the breakdown in mechanisms of social engagement and collective action that has proved so devastating for moral thinking.
I am not sure God has shown anything – theists have shown that they have no qualms about killing sure – God not so much.
” … where God has actually shown some colours”
Does this actually mean anything?
Without having read the book, I can say as an independent New Thought Minister that I do not see morality as the jurisdiction of God, and never have. My pov has always been one that self-identifies with the Consciousness of said God as Universal and personal, but not as teacher if I am self-creating my life because part of that Consciousness indwells me. Metaphysicians (I was born with psi-related abilities) are less judgmental than some, and experience for themselves the interconnectedness of Oneness, self-expressing God-in-Action. Morality is something which is naturally cultivated based upon interactions with others, isn’t it? Has it ever been necessary to teach morality, or simply a means of guaranteeing Religious Doctrine, regardless of the sect. I feel my self-identity linked to the great mystery experienced daily, and cannot name it as God without naming it as consciousness. It does not teach me through instruction, but allows me to self-develop my own moral code. Over millennia society has developed moral goals. I do not believe in legislating morals, either. Law is built to seek justice and parity through equality, isn’t it? Please know that I am not being disrespectful to “engage” this topic without having read the book, I am just confused by the damage done daily, because of the question of Good Ethics vs Bad Ethics. I am sincerely intrigued by the subject, and have recently finished a book that also discusses Sacred Science, my pov that of a hybrid approach to “the theory of everything” will gain much, while ignoring morals, spirituality and science will divorce us from ancient wisdom to better experience a societal morality which could endure and bring peace. The “Multiple You” Universe: Sacred Science for the 21st Century; is one mystic’s journey to better understand quantum “reality” against her own understanding of the world, spiritual and extrasensory. Consciousness is likely the essence of my God manifesting itself in the creat ed, so I do not know a moralizing one, and yet each day is a sacred experience for me. I do see the beauty in all aspects of the created as well as the separation we self-inflict, therefore I appreciate the wisdom of the creator…allowing us to self-determine, experientially “lessoning” throughout our life. Do I think God is sending me lessons? As a small part of God’s consciousness, I think that gift is reserved for the part of me which is already functioning in another version of my sacred energy signature, enlightening the multiple you of me, as I go, interdimensionally experiencing myself in other forms. What do I know? Nothing with certainty. What do I feel as I live my life? That tolerance is the only moral starting point for me. If you are offended that I responded without reading, I sincerely offer my apology to you, and your excellent team on your show. I welcome disscussion at my own website, Multiple-You-Universe.com on this subject. I am a woman with ethics, whose connection to God is the belief that we are all connected to the power of God manifesting within us, without a need of a set of ethical rules to guide us which deviate from well being for the whole. I am always afraid when Religion makes rules for Society. It basically says about us that we do not trust ourselves to be loving, kind and tolerant with one another, and to deal with abbhorant behavior compassionately, instead of violently. Violence against anyone is violence against God, if the assumption is correct that God is consciousness and that it is Consciousness which has created Everything, and which allows us to cocreate our reality. Why are we not cultivating our consciousness to create peace and well being for all people of the world? Respectfully, Rev. Cassandra