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The relationship between religion and morality
Religion vs morality
Relationship Between Religion And Morality
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Morality
Through out the evolutionary process of rules and regulations that we abide by, we come to a discrete conclusion that religion and its "morality" have complete power over our beings. Morality is the quality of being in accord with standards of right or good conduct. But for most of the world it is the meaning of so called Christian morality, or religious morality that defines this system of right and wrong. Religion itself is being defined as the belief in and reverence for a supernatural power or powers regarded as creator and governor of the universe.
So in other words religion makes up our definition of morality which we are supposed to live by. But I would like to say otherwise.
In an essay by Anthony Brandt "Do Kids Need Religion", he presses on a point that while children do not need religion to guide them in life, the path which they eventually will find themselves, however the religious beliefs help the child "trust" their parents. The key phrase in that essay for me states that "children can be taught the importance of right versus wrong without the benefits of religious training". Also it says that "moral understanding is acquired in stages, that it is a developmental process that unfolds, to some extent, as naturally as intelligence itself". As children mature and develop they tend to create their own perspectives of what is right or what is wrong, they decide what is moral or not.
"Morality is the theory that every human act must be either right or wrong, and that 99% of them are wrong" (H. L. Mencken (1880--1956), U.S. journalist. A Mencken Chrestomathy, "Sententiæ: The Mind of Men" (1949)). In modern day and age we do not look upon this statement as if it was describing the human population...
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...f the moral conduct, a reward awaits you. You never see animals going through the absurd and often horrible fooleries of magic and religion. Dogs do not ritually urinate in the hope of persuading heaven to do the same and send down the rain. Only man behaves with such foolishness. It is the price he has to pay for being intelligent but not, as yet, quite intelligent enough. In my definition, religion is doing; a man does not merely think his religion or feel it, he "lives" his religion as much as he is able, otherwise it is not religion but fantasy or philosophy. It is you who set those ten "commandments" which now have to followed. There is only one moral code that has to be followed, and its is all yours. Religion is just another way to discover these rights and wrongs, but you have to sort through all of the nonsense and only find purity in your day to day life.
“An idea (concept) of virtue which not be formally reflective or clarified bears some resemblance to religion, so that one might say either that it is a shadow of religion, or religion is a shadow of it” (Murdoch 363). Virtue and morality are not necessarily interchangeable, but religion and virtue both have a duty in common. Duty may be performed without strain or reflection of desire, which means your duty, or responsibility, should be performed without hesitation. “Dutifulness could be an account of a morality with no hint of religion” (Murdoch 364). Religion’s demand for morality and being good trumps a person’s decision to fulfill a personal/independent call to duty.
Religion gives rise to and is born with the unreasonable and uninviting desire to make man at home in what seems to be very close to an uncaring world. With this being
Religion motivates people to not stray from the path of virtue, but in return, their fear of God keeps those who believe from deviating from the morals set in place by the bible. This can be problematic. You see, people following God’s rules would not be doing so for the right reasons, instead they do it because they fear God’s wrath. This person would be unreliable in terms of morality, and would probably stray from God’s morals if they believed God would not offer a reward for their ‘good’ behavior.
Morality has a strong connection with religion. The connection is so strong that most panels on ethics contain Ministers of God. This scenario therefore creates a natural question, “Does morality depend solely on religion?” The first point to understand in this scenario is the fact that God and religion are not the same. For instance, Christianity and Christ are not the same. The existence of God is independent of us just as the planets of Jupiter and Saturn are independent of human existence. The independence of God from us makes him prone to human weaknesses. For instance, Christians proclaim that their God is god but it is obvious to state that the religion - Christianity in itself has not been good as expected. For instance, when one sees
Evil is constantly talked about on the news, in history class, and by people in society. But who causes this evil that society is so intrigued by? Author William Golding’s idea of evil in “the darkness of man’s heart” is present in his novel, Lord of the Flies, and in the present world.
Immanuel Kant addresses a question often asked in political theory: the relationship between practical political behavior and morality -- how people do behave in politics and how they ought to behave. Observers of political action recognize that political action is often a morally questionable business. Yet many of us, whether involved heavily in political action or not, have a sense that political behavior could and should be better than this. In Appendix 1 of Perpetual Peace, Kant explicates that conflict does not exist between politics and morality, because politics is an application of morality. Objectively, he argues that morality and politics are reconcilable. In this essay, I will argue two potential problems with Kant’s position on the compatibility of moral and politics: his denial of moral importance in emotion and particular situations when an action seems both politically legitimate and yet almost immoral; if by ‘politics’, regarded as a set of principles of political prudence, and ‘morals’, as a system of laws that bind us unconditionally.
My father has always reminded me that religion plays a big role in one’s morals. Of course that only applies if a person is religious and has a religious background. There are a lot of religious people in this world, and if one were to ask them where their morals came from, they would say that it is based on their religion. So what is it that makes these two things so similar and distinct? Iris Murdoch, author of “Morality and Religion,” discusses how morals and religion need each other in order to work. Morals without religion is nearly impossible because; religion influences our morals, religion allows to set better morals for one’s self, and ideally morality is essentially religious.
In every civilized society you will always find many varying forms of morality and values, especially in the United States of America. In Societies such as these you find a mosaic of differing religions, cultures, political alignments, and socio economic backgrounds which suggests that morality and values are no different. In Friedrich Nietzsche’s book, Beyond Good and Evil, Nietzsche discusses morality and the two categories that you will find at the very basis of all varieties of morality. One category of morality focuses on the “Higher Man” and his superiority to all those under him and his caste. The second system is derived from those of a lower caste that may be used by those in higher castes to further themselves and society. These categories as described by Nietzsche are known as Master Morality and Slave Morality. In this modern time in our culture, morality is becoming a more polarizing topic than ever before. Morality is often times held synonymous with religious practice and faith, although morality is an important part of religion and faith, everyone has some variation of morality no matter their religious affiliation or lack thereof. Friedrich Nietzsche’s theories on morality, Master and Slave Morality, describe to categories of morality which can be found at the very basis of most variations of morality. Master and Slave morality differ completely from each other it is not uncommon to find blends of both categories from one person to another. I believe the Master Morality and Slave Morality theories explain not only religious affiliations but also political alignments and stances on certain social issues in American society. By studying the origins and meanings of Nietzsche’s theories, comparing these theories to c...
Morality is defined as “neither mysterious nor irrational but furnishes the necessary guidelines for how we can promote human welfare and prevent suffering” (Fisher 134). Moral relativism suggests that when it comes to questions about morality, there is no absolute right and wrong. Relativists argue that there can be situations in which certain behavior that would generally be considered “wrong” can also be considered “right”. The most prominent argument for moral relativism was posed by a foremost American anthropologist, Ruth Benedict, who claimed that absolute morality does not exist because cultures and individuals disagree on moral issues and because of these differences, morality cannot be objective (Benedict). For example, in the United
James Rachels' article, "Morality is Not Relative," is incorrect, he provides arguments that cannot logically be applied or have no bearing on the statement of contention. His argument, seems to favor some of the ideas set forth in cultural relativism, but he has issues with other parts that make cultural relativism what it is.
A child is like a sponge that absorbs ideas and beliefs. Beliefs are taught to a child in subtle ways such as just listening to the parents and their opinions from everything including politics, social problems, moral issues and even opinions about how others behave. It is within the family unit that a person learns their moral values. It is from their parents that a child is taught right and wrong. Often this is through religious training. Religious beliefs or the lack of religious beliefs has a great influence on a person's beliefs and values.
Religion is a collection of belief systems, cultural systems, and world views that relate humanity to spirituality and moral values. (Edit spacing) Moral values are the standards of good and evil, which govern an individual’s behavior and choices. It is our moral values that dictate what another person is to be perceived as good or evil. Most of the time, these are considered in black and white views with no regard for the various shades of grey. In the grey area, we will find a true person. The moral code, we follow determines whether one should commit homicide or make the decision to do the “right” thing. The paper found on this topic revolves around the Southern region, but further research was done to understand the Northern take on religion to better grasp the United States as a whole. It is believed that the South hold God closer to the body than North does in that they believe the Bible is truly the word of God and should be taken literally. “Personal salvation through faith is the only escape from eternal damnation....
In the article “What makes us moral” by Jeffrey Kluger, he describes how morality is defined and how the people follow rules. Kluger discusses about scientific research that has been done to point out the important reasons of morality. Kluger explains that a person’s decision to do something good or bad is based on empathy, that humans tend not to do bad to those they sympathize with. Kluger also compares humans with animals and thinks that morality is the only thing that separates us from animals. I do agree with Kluger that people are born with a sense of right and wrong, but we should be taught how to use it. We learned to be nicer to those around us because we already know the type of person they are, and the morality we learned as children
Many arguments have been made over whether or not religion and morality are interconnected. It is quite difficult to find a well rounded definition of religion or morality due to everyone having different perceptions of both of the words. The word religion comes from the Latin words Religio or Religare both have similar meanings, a bond/bind (Diener, 1997). Merriam-Webster dictionary defines religion as "a cause, principle, or system of beliefs held to with ardor and faith (Religion).” Morality comes from the Latin word mores meaning character or manner (Diener, 1997). Morality is also defined by the Merriem-Webster dictionary as "beliefs about what is right behavior and what is wrong behavior (Morality).” Paul Diener states that all
The concept of morality differs for every individual. Morality is one 's concept of right and wrong as defined by the individual 's society, family, religion, ethnicity and even gender. It is also subject to the individual 's interpretation and experience. This lends credence to the idea that no one 's morality is exactly the same. The next logical question to answer would be how does one develop their morality? Developmental behaviorist such as Piaget and Kohlberg developed theories for this moral development and how it progresses from childhood into adulthood (Barsky, 2010). Kohlberg 's theory centers around three levels of growth: preconventional reasoning, conventional reasoning, and postconventional reasoning. The levels progress from