Link Between Religion and Morality

Link Between Religion and Morality

One critique of the link between religion and morality comes from

Professor Chung, who believed he was a moral atheist and that you do

not have to be religious to be moral, and that religion does not

automatically mean that you possess moral authority. His position

argues that religion in fact corrupts a person's morality and makes

them less moral.

Professor Chung first points out that although in our society

religious rules and societies morals are closely interlinked it does

not mean that religious people are qualified to decide the correct

moral action one should take in a certain situation. He believes that

although religious leaders regard themselves as experts they are in

reality limited and not moral at all as they are being lead not by

what the believe to be morally right but by a set of rules the believe

they must follow. Most world religions have deontological morality

systems which they must follow for example the Ten Commandments which

Christians and Jews obey. These are a set of rules that they are told

they should obey throughout their lives in order to live a morally

good life. Therefore in situations Christians and Jews should turn to

these commandments and the other commandments in the form of teachings

in their holy book to decide moral dilemmas. The problem with this

Professor Chung believes is that if a person does base their morality

on strict rules then their moral freedom is being taken away from

them, as they are not free to make a moral choice themselves.

This is indeed true, however a religious believer could argue that

they are morally free because they believe that...

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their moral responsibility and this is exactly the opposite of what

religion believes, so it is self contradicting and again the link is

weakened.

In conclusion it is clear that Professor Chung has a strong argument

against the link between religion and morality. He points out on more

than one occasion that religious moral codes are not only impractical

and often lead to immoral acts, but are self contradicting and often

ignored by religious believers. Moreover he also points out that a

person does not have to be religious to be moral, and therefore how

can religion shape morality if some people are not religious but still

moral. This clearly shows that morality comes from human nature and

not religion, and therefore his argument is very effective, and in my

opinion disproves the link of morality and religion.