Morality is independent or opposed to Religion

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  • Created by: debbz789
  • Created on: 11-10-15 15:58
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  • Morality is Independent of Religion
    • Euthyphro Dilemma
      • "Is X good because God commands it or does God command it because it is good?
        • Problem with stem 1 - "in saying that things are not good by any rule of goodness but by sheer will of God, it seems to me that one destroys without realising it, all the love of God ... for why praise him when he would be equally praiseworthy"
        • God sees that something is good and therefore commands it, objective moral facts. This supports the idea that morality is independent of religion.
        • William Lane Craig suggests that God commands it because God is good. Something is good the closer it is to God's nature.
    • Conscience
      • Freud suggests an alternative reason for a conscience
        • He says that a conscience is merely the super ego's reflection of society's opinions and the disapproval of others. It is pre-rational and an inevitable consequence
      • Why do Christians make mistakes
        • Cultural Relativism - comes from society's values, why people have differing views.
    • Immorality of Religion
      • e.g.
        • Crusades and other religious conflicts
        • Bible's lack of morality - Job, Lot
        • West boro Baptist Church
      • Quotes
        • "Religion prevents a rational education" - Bertrand Russel
        • "Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction" - Pascal
        • "Generally speaking, error in religion are dangerous, in philosophy only ridiculous" - Hume
    • Problems with Christian Ethics
      • Christian Ethics....
        • Breed intolerance - different Churches persecute each other, assume only Christian teachings are 'good'
          • "Wherever morality is based on theology, wherever the right is made dependent on divine authority, the most immoral, unjust, infamous things can be justified" - Feuerbach
        • Are built on fear - idea of heaven and hell, makes people conform out of fear
          • "A man's ethical behavior should be based effectually on sympathy, education, and social ties and needs; no religious basis is necessary. Man would indeed be in a poor way if he had to be restrained by fear of punishment and hope of reward after death" - Albert Einstein
        • Are repressive - viewed as 'do nots', curtails autonomy and freedom
          • "We are the heirs to the conscience - vivisection and self-crucifixion of two thousand years.
        • Make people weak - leading to stock moral reactions.  Nietzsche believed Christianity lead to a stock devaluation of this world in favor of the next. Slave morality.
          • "Your neighbour love is your own bad love of yourselves" - Nietzsche

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