Some years ago Arthur Leff gave a lecture at Duke University School of Law entitled “Unspeakable Ethics, Unnatural Law.” He was not a Christian, and he understood where his position led him.
Leff went on to argue that, since there is no God, the only law we have is our own arbitrary will, and he calls that realization terrifying. He concludes his article this way:
"It looks as if we are all we have. Given what we know about ourselves and each other, this is an extraordinarily unappetizing prospect; looking around the world, it appears that if all men are brothers, the ruling model is Cain and Abel. Neither reason, nor love, nor even terror, seems to have worked to make us 'good,' and worse than that, there is no reason why anything should. . . . As things now stand, everything is up for grabs. . . . God help us."
-- Arthur Allen Leff, “Unspeakable Ethics, Unnatural Law,” Duke Law Journal 1979, no. 6 (1979): 1229–49)
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