I am having difficulty writing up a response to the question of the day, "Does religion inspire morality?" simply because I am having difficulty separating the two concepts of religion and morality. So, outside the framework of religion, what is moral? What is immoral?
Discuss
James Mills on March 3, 2008, 7:20 PM
We all feel pain in some way correct? And we understand that others feel and experience the world in much the same way as we do. So morality is the understanding of equality, the understanding that others can suffer just as we do. So a moral action is one that alleviates suffering. An immoral action is one that leads to suffering. It all works quite well without religion I think. Let me know what you think.
Edward C on March 4, 2008, 7:09 PM
From my research “Sin” does not exist across all cultures.
Morality is quite simple – we all create our own reality. If you’re a d!ck head then you’ll attract other d!ck heads, if you are disciplined you’ll attract similar minded people.
It may seem that we all live in the same world, but yet our perceptions and recollection of the same experiences vary infinitly according to our individual levels of awareness. Therefore we each live in our own Universe.
Bill Webb on March 4, 2008, 7:14 PM
I believe inter-being relationships come more under the heading of ethics: living in such a way as not to cause unnecessary pain.
Morality seems to have more to do with our opinions about other people’s behavior, rather than the effects thereof.
Just my take on it.
Tomas Rodriguez on March 5, 2008, 11:31 AM
Many atheists have taken a crack at this because of an ongoing discussion between morals within us vs. morals imparted on us externally (i.e. God). You can see some responses from “non-experts” at http://richarddawkins.net under “Debate Points”. There are many debates on YouTube that are also interesting… by “experts”. :) Who can really be an expert on this?
Susan Shipp on March 5, 2008, 3:38 PM
I agree with jamesspills. Morality is a natural outgrowth of society, in that eventually we all seek the best way to thrive among our fellow human beings. Selfishness only works in the short term. Using a god to enforce society’s preferred norms might work for some people, but it’s not necessary.Wik Wikholm on March 6, 2008, 9:31 PM
To choose to believe in a deity as the source of one’s moral choices is to claim supernatural authority for one’s moral stances. Since one chooses both one’s god and one’s morality, a godly morality is no less arbitrary than an ungodly one. It is, however, more narcissistic as it is invariably used to claim superhuman authority for one’s point of view.
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