#public #apologetics #topics #philosophy Short answer: no. I agree with Dennis Prager. He argues that people are not born inherently good but with a tendency toward self-centeredness and moral weakness. His best argument is grounded in both observable human behavior and biblical worldview. Here’s a summary of his core reasoning: #### Human Nature Is Not Inherently Good **Thesis**: People are not born good; they are born with morally flawed inclinations and must be taught to be good. Key Points of this Argument: 1. If people were naturally good, we wouldn’t need to teach them how to be good. Prager: “We have to teach people to be good. We don’t have to teach them to be bad.” - Children naturally lie, hit, steal, and manipulate to get what they want. - No one teaches a child to be selfish or angry—those traits emerge on their own. - However, teaching honesty, patience, generosity, and self-control requires deliberate effort from parents, teachers, and society. 2. History supports the idea that people lean toward evil. - The 20th century, which was the most secular and “enlightened” in history, produced the Holocaust, Stalin’s purges, Mao’s cultural revolution, and other atrocities. - If people were naturally good, such horrors wouldn’t have happened at the scale they did. 3. Religious wisdom from the Bible affirms this view. - The Bible teaches that “the inclination of the human heart is evil from youth” (Genesis 8:21). - Prager often references Jewish and Christian teachings that acknowledge the presence of both good and evil inclinations in every person (the yetzer hara and yetzer hatov in Judaism). - He argues that the Bible’s realism about human nature is one of the reasons it remains so insightful and relevant. 4. Secular views of innate goodness lead to moral chaos. - When society teaches that people are naturally good, it removes the moral responsibility to struggle against selfish impulses. - It creates entitlement and a refusal to recognize evil as real or needing to be confronted. Illustrative Quote by Dennis Prager: “The great task of life is to fight our nature — not to accept it. If we were naturally kind and loving, we wouldn’t need parents, teachers, or religions to teach us to be that way.” #### Summary Dennis Prager’s strongest argument is built on the observation that moral goodness must be taught and reinforced, while selfishness, dishonesty, and cruelty come naturally. History, scripture, and everyday parenting all bear witness to this truth. According to Prager, believing we are born good blinds us to the necessity of moral instruction, discipline, and accountability. ### Practical Application Don’t expect people to be good. This means you celebrate every time someone chooses to be selfless. They are fighting against their nature. They are becoming mature and well differentiate. This stops us from feeling discouraged when we see people being bad.