Preview

Religious Education

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1692 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Religious Education
Religious Education Essay – Is basing religion on morality a good idea?

Is basing religion on morality a good idea? Many people agree although some atheists may disagree.
One common complaint about secularism is that religion and belief in God are fundamentals for morality, justice, and a democratic society. The basic premise here is that the only values which ultimately matter are those which are transcendent, and such values can only be perceived and understood through religious tradition and a connection with the divine. It is strange that such a belief would be as common as it is, because religions and various types of theism have had literally thousands of years during which they could demonstrate that they could provide the basis for a just, moral, and democratic society. For the most part, they haven 't done a very good job; on the contrary, religion is too often associated with immorality, injustice, and political repression.
Although these failures do not prove that religion cannot help provide a basis for morality, justice and democracy, they do prove that such values do not naturally and immediately flow from religion - an important point which should discourage people from actively believing in the necessary connection between those values and either religion generally or their religion in particular.
Is Religion Necessary for Morality? Is morality dependent upon the existence of any gods? There is no clear reason why we should believe such a thing. If we assume the existence of a god, even a god who has many of the traditional qualities of classical, philosophical theism, there are no particular moral values which we can derive from that premise.
Can human morality exist without religion?
There is no simple "yes" or "no" answer to this question. The Chambers Dictionary 's first definitions of morality are: "relating to character or conduct consider as good or evil; ethical; adhering to or directed towards what is right." This raises the

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    This quiz consist of 15 multiple choice questions and covers the material in Chapter 1. Be sure you are in Chapter 1 when you take the quiz.…

    • 638 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Religion encourages citizens to be more virtuous. In the words of Tocqueville, “it [religion] facilitates their use of it [freedom],” meaning that without religion to bound human intellect, members of a democracy would not be able to make use of freedom (Tocqueville 280). Religion also teaches delayed gratification which prevents people from falling into an endless spiral of greed. Most importantly, “faith alone is the permanent state of humanity,” and without faith, humans would lose the part of themselves that gives them hope for the future (Tocqueville 284). Hope fuels humanity, and religion is “only a particular form of hope” that is potent enough to drive humanity to greatness (Tocqueville…

    • 1715 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    If we accept option (1), God is the ultimate source of morality because what makes an action wrong is the fact that God says it is not right. If morality is dependent on God 's will, any action would be good just by him commanding that we do it. This implies…

    • 993 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Religion is one of the pillars of society. It can be used to rule the common with fair and just practice or it can be used for a rulers own self-improvement and greed. Many times over the course of world history religion is misconstrued and leads individuals to believe self-interrupted version of its holy text. Two of the most prominent religions in world history Islam and Christianity were used to empower those in high authority. This point is made clear with the documents discussed, and show readers that religion is nothing more than tool for the intellect to take advantage of the common masses of society.…

    • 842 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Another issue with any divine command morality theory is that we have no confirmation that there even is the essential God, a great deal less which God's commands are the commands of that God. There are many distinctive moral frameworks credited to God. This is so even inside of the umbrella of Christian belief in a higher power; more so when we consider different belief…

    • 611 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Believing in a spiritual entity or a supernatural supreme being can play a role in one’s moral beliefs, but it is not necessary. The argument will start with breaking down what it is to be moral with the definition of moral, which is “of or relating to principles of right and wrong in behavior,” (ethically speaking) “conforming to a standard of right behavior.” (Merriam-Webster, 2011) With that in mind now, one can be moral and not believe in GOD, because it is up to the person to choose to be moral, hence “To be, or not to be…” This argument will consist of a brief history in a few religions, church and state, moral education, ethics, and Plato 's and Aristotle 's take on living morally. Again, believing in God is not necessarily needed for one to be moral; all that is needed is good ethics, belief in oneself, and knowledge.…

    • 2355 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Religion can persuade many people to do many unintelligent things such as dehumanizing people who fail to meet the dictates of the religion, and has the power of persuading people into doing nothing about the situation because it be known as unacceptable to "God". Ignorance, Culture of fear and discrimination are three themes that demonstrate that ignorant adherence to man-made tenets, attributed to religion can dehumanize those who fail to meet those so-called dictates of the religion.…

    • 734 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    There are many human religions that encompass moral values, but many of them also offer the forgiveness of a deity if they do wrong against these moral values. An exemplary religion of this devotion is Christianity, which imposes Ten Commandments of human morality, and these commandments are mostly virtuous principles to abide. The falter in this belief system is that if one should disobey…

    • 2486 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    There are a few different flaws within James Rachels’, “God and Morality Are Incompatible”. Rachels is speaking outside of his own knowledge range when he asserts, “to apply the tittle ‘God’ to a being is to recognize him as one to be obeyed” (Rachels 372). Now, this would usually be a true statement as Rachels brings up the word “’King’” (Rachels 372). A king is a great being and is obeyed by all without question, just like a dictator. This would be an example of the God that Rachels is talking about in the previous statement. Many others would see the Christian God as…

    • 739 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Divine Command Theory

    • 1962 Words
    • 8 Pages

    People are extremely motivated by self-interest, even as societies have evolved and grown larger. While the more intertwined societies did lead to a greater need for cooperation in order to live as peacefully as possible, the need to follow the rules of that society can still be ignored when self-interests are present. The need to live by a set of moral rules is well explained by connecting God and morality. As God holds a person accountable, following the moral rules is now is that person’s interest. So even while the person may act according to society, the actions are still explained by the incentives and sanctions placed by God with the promise of Heaven and the threat of Hell, respectively. However, the Divine Command Theory falls short by basing morality solely on God’s commands. Morality then seems subject to God’s whims, which makes morality arbitrary. The opposing view counters strongly with the existence of morals within atheists. For if morals are based only on God’s will, then atheists must be godless brutes lacking any semblance to a moral compass. The morality of atheists is clearly evident, yet the argument failed to establish a reason for morals other acknowledging damage done to the…

    • 1962 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Because of this dilemma, philosophers have tried to create a secular ethic in order to avoid it. But, according to Kai Nielsen, “Religious morality… may have its difficulties, but secular morality, religious apologists argue, has still greater difficulties.” He then explains that without some great consequence, or without any bigger purpose for living morally, then there would be no reason to live morally, or to even define what morality consists…

    • 532 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Evaluate the view that religion is an important source of moral values in contemporary societies. (33 marks)…

    • 1507 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Best Essays

    The Euthyphro Dilemma

    • 2677 Words
    • 11 Pages

    Religion and morality have been seen as inseparable since the advent of Western thought (http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/religion-morality/) - religion's fundamental characters being frequently ethical in nature, and morality often viewed as a derivative of religion. However, the relationship is not as clear cut as many people would like you to believe. A very old and important dilemma facing this relationship is the Euthyphro dilemma, discussed in Plato’s Euthyphro. In it, Socrates and Euthyphro argue about the nature of morality outside of a court. Socrates is being prosecuted for impiety, while Euthyphro is charging his father with murder. Although charging your father, even for murder, is frowned upon in Ancient Greek culture, Euthyphro justifies it by claiming that this is similar to what the Gods have been reported to have done, and therefore it is alright. After multiple definitions of holiness and piety, Socrates brings up the Euthyphro dilemma , which when adapted to a monotheistic context where God is an all-powerful, all-knowing being (which I will be using), goes:…

    • 2677 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    1. If God exists, then we have a sound foundation for objective moral values and duties.…

    • 756 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Question of Morality is answered by the Hinduism Worldview as "that everything is god and god is everything, morality and ethics(in a practical sense) are how one should act toward itself" (Weider & Gutierrez, 2011). Hindu's believe you have to look within to figure out if something is moral or unmoral. It's also believed "Man's actions will return to him or her(karma), and it is up to the individual to determine what those actions should be and how they should be carried out" (Weider & Gutierrez, 2011).…

    • 632 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays

Related Topics