ABSTRACT
This chapter introduces a problem that faces secular morality. Drawing on thinkers such as William James and Iris Murdoch, it argues that religious morality is enhanced and deepened by the theist's love for a transcendent good. This sort of love inspires moral transformation by turning attention away from the self and deepening one's engagement with external reality. The spirituality problem is that, without a comparable object of love, secularist morality is qualitatively worse than it could be. While some humanists claim to love humanity, it is argued that humanity, understood as the human race, cannot elicit the sort of love that inspires moral transformation. The chapter concludes that, to resolve the spirituality problem, the secularist needs to identify a non-supernatural, but transcendent good that can take the place of God in moral life.
