Are religion and morality linked?
- Created by: Former Member
- Created on: 28-02-14 17:43
View mindmap
- Are religion and morality linked?
- No
- A.J. Ayer- "No morality can be founded on authority, even if the authority were divine"
- Leibniz- if things are good "sheerly by the will of God... He would be equally praiseworthy in doing the contrary"
- James Rachels- "the right of an action must come from the fact that it is right in itself"
- Alasdair MacIntyre- if people do moral acts simply to escape Hell, then the act may actually be selfish and corrupting
- Bertrand Russell- religion "has been and still is the principal enemy of moral progress"
- What about the variety of religious beliefs, even within a single tradition?
- Hume- "the errors in religion are dangerous"
- Acting morally is reasonable for any harmony to exist
- Perhaps human nature leads to morality and immorality, hence why even atheists can be moral. St. Augustine- "Evils exist by the voluntary sin of the soul to which God gave some choice"
- Religion can be immoral- e.g. crusades, inquisitions,, slowing progress, challenging blood transfusions, transplants and IVF, and promoting intolerance
- Yes
- Dostoyevsky's 'The Brother Karamazor- Ivan- 'without God everything is permitted'
- Kant- innate, guiding moral law points to God as the sense of the 'ought' in moral duty
- Cardinal Newman- innate responsibility, shame and guilt are directed towards God and are linked with morality
- H.P. Owens- moral rules are commands, God is the commander
- D.Z. Phillips- "to a Christian, to do one's duty is to do the will of God"
- Joseph Fletcher- God may want us to exercise our moral autonomy- as in Situation Ethics
- The Catholic Church acknowledged the role of the conscience
- Numerous religious moral figures, e.g Mother Teresa, Martin Luther King. The Church encourages scepticism towards the material world
- Horrendous crimes when religion is oppressed- e.g. Nazi Germany, Stalin's Russia
- J.L. Mackie suggests a dualism of practical reason- both being self-seeking and selfless can seem reasonable, so perhaps something pushes us into the latter...
- Joseph Butler- the existence of religion and God makes being moral right regardless of interests- "Duty and interest are perfectly coincident"
- An omniscient, omnibenevolent God would want our greatest benefit which is achieved through being moral, and we obey out of gratitude for Him having created us, and acknowledging His superiority
- No
Comments
No comments have yet been made