Does Ethics Depend on Religion?

Blackburn argues the death of God is not a threat to ethics, even though on the surface it appears to be that way. He considers the death of God to be far from a threat, instead acting as a catalyst for a new beginning in the field of ethics. Blackburn looks at the death of God as a good event for ethics, stating “Plato tells us that the ethical laws cannot be arbitrary whims of personalized Gods. Maybe instead we can make our own laws” (Blackburn 19). In this quote, he is suggesting we’d be better off making our own morals and ethics instead of following the teachings of a God. I agree with Blackburn in the respect that ethics does not depend on religion, but unlike Blackburn, I believe religion depends on ethics as well and is necessary to the functioning of our society. We are born into our ethics, just as we are born into a religion, be it Christianity or Atheistic. From an early age we are indoctrinated, and the beliefs become so much a part of our life that the idea of questioning or doubting them is unimaginable. At a young age we don’t have the ability to question an idea as complex as the validity of a religion. We are young and naïve, assuming everything we learn in Sunday school and hear from our parents to be the truth. I don’t think a five year old is going to refute his parents on the birth of Christ during the car ride home from church. In this aspect, our ethics may be dependent upon our religion and what we are taught, acting as a compass we clutch onto as a guide through the thick jungles of our early years. Until obtaining the ability to decipher complex concepts such as abortion, our ethical values depend upon the teachings of the faith our parents expose us to or teach us as kids. As we grow older, we begin to question what we have been taught and wonder if we accept it all as truth or not. After maturing and attaining more knowledge, we begin to develop our own set of ethics. We may still attend church on a regular basis and

Bibliography: Blackburn, Simon. Being Good. New York: Oxford University Press, 2001.