A source that philosophers often cite to refute the theory comes from one of Plato's dialogues in which Socrates asks: Is an action bad because God forbids it, or does God forbid an action because that he considers it bad? ? If one agrees with the first statement, one must also agree that if God no longer prohibited murder, slavery, or torture, then any of these actions would be considered moral. This is obviously not the case since causing harm to others without good reason is almost universally considered an ethical error. However, if one agrees with this last statement, one must also recognize that whether an action is good or bad, it has nothing to do with God himself. Although a perfect (non-arbitrary) God can tell whether an act is moral or immoral with perfect clarity, He cannot affect the right or wrong of an individual action. Instead, he realizes the reasons why an action is morally wrong. For example, God declares that torture is wrong because it causes pain and humiliation in a helpless person. It is for this reason, and not because God simply declared it to be so, that torture is wrong. Therefore, the divine command theory is