- 1. Chapter Ten: Religion and Ethics
- Religion has profoundly affected human conscious life and moral
behavior for over two thousand years.
- For Western Civilization, Morality has been identified with
adherence to religion.
2. For Western Civilization:
- To act immorally is essentially to disobey God.
- Religion has dominated the moral landscape to appear to be
indistinguishable from morality.
- Most people identify morality with religion.
3. Exceptions:
- Confucianism:Essentially a secular system of ethics
- Non-theist Buddhism:Also, a secular system of ethics.
- Greek Philosophers:Contemplated morality independently of
religion
4. Divine Command Theory
- Ethical principles are simply the commands of God.
- They derive their validity from God commanding them.
- Without God there would be no universally valid morality.
5. Autonomy Thesis
- Opposed to the Divine Command Theory
- Denies the thesis of the Divine Command Theory
- Claims that morality does not originate with God
- Rightness and Wrongness are not dependent on Gods Will
- There are independent ways to act
6. Religious and Secular Ethics
- Kant claimed that both humans and God must obey the same
rational principles
- Being moral is our duty to God
- We ought to be moral, which means we can be moral and
therefore, we are able to reach moral perfection, but being
imperfect beings, it will not occur in this lifetime.
7. Religion and Secular Ethics
- Some claim that morality based in religion is an inferior brand
of morality and prevents true moral development.
- Some say that morality based in religion is not deeply rooted
and is superficial.
- Some say that morality based in religion requires that a person
give up his or her rational autonomy.
8. Does Religion Enhance Moral Life?
- If there is a God, good will win out over evil.
- If God exists, then cosmic justice reigns in the universe.
- If Theism is true, moral reasons always override nonmoral
reasons.
9. Does Religion Enhance Moral Life?
- If there is a God who created us in his image, all persons are
of equal worth.
- If God exists, we have a compelling solution to the posterity
problem.
- However, Religions have done harm to humanity throughout
history and doubt still exists about theories of God.