Nature, Religion and Morality

University Degree Historical and Philosophical studies

Jen Johnson

Prof. Blackman

10/12/01

In today’s world so many people are obsessed with doing what is “moral”, but with so many different cultures and societies sometimes the idea of morality can become skewed. There are so many actions that are performed in the world that it is hard to classify each and every one as moral, or immoral. In this paper I will prove that one does not need religion to have morals, and be a moral person.

One of the first things you must look at when trying to figure out how to be a moral person is to figure out what morality is. “And what is piety, and what is impiety?”, Socrates asks. When given the answer, “Piety, then, is that which is dear to the gods, and impiety is that which is not dear to them.”, he is not satisfied. He points out different gods have different likes and dislikes. While one God might like war and pillaging, another might want you to get along with all people. Since there is not yet a universal definition for morality, it indicates that there must be some universal definition that applies to every one of all cultures, societies, and religions.

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Russell agrees that there is some higher standard of morality than what humans can define. “If it [the difference between right and wrong] is due to God’s fiat, then for God himself there is no difference between right and wrong, and it is no longer a significant statement to say that God is good. If you are going to say, as theologians do, that God is good, you must then say that right and wrong have some meaning which is independent of God’s fiat, because God’s fiats are good and not bad independently of the mere fact that he made them.” In other words, if God is good, then what He says is moral is also good. But things cannot only be good because He said so, or else it is obsolete to call Him good. If this is the case then morality is totally separate from all religions, and religion is just used as a way to help people to better understand the universal code of morals.

Although some argue that without God “everything is permitted” and people have no reason to act in a moral fashion, I find it to be an untrue statement. Morality must be coupled with emotions. One cannot claim an act is moral if he feels bad after he commits the act. Even if someone did not have a religious moral objection to killing others, he could still feel bad about doing so. This would deter one from doing something bad because it would go against his own personal morals, or conscience. Even religious people hold different standards for different morals. Many morals now are only held on personal levels. For example, Christians used to believe that sex before marriage was bad. However now many Christians are having sex before they are wed, and they do not see it as being immoral.

Since there is so much conflict between religions as to what is moral and what is immoral, and since we cannot even fully define morality, it is impossible to believe that religion is the only link to morality. There must be higher standards for morality or else no one would be moral, because God himself would not be able to determine right from wrong to let us know what was okay to do and what not okay to do.

Works Cited:

Plato, Euthyphro, in Alburey Castell and Donald M.

Borchert(ed.), An Introduction to Modern Philosophy:

Examining the Human Condition. New York: MacMillan

Publishing Company, 1983.

Russell, Bertrand. Why I am not a Christian. New York:

Simon & Schuster, 1957.

Dostoyevsky, Fyodor, The Brothers Karamazov. Trans. Julius

Katzer. Moscow: Progress Publishers, 1980.

Plato, Euthyphro, in Alburey Castell and Donald M. Borchert(ed.), An Introduction to Modern Philosophy: Examining the Human Condition. (New York: MacMillan Publishing Company, 1983) 7.

Plato, Euthyphro, in Alburey Castell and Donald M. Borchert(ed.), An Introduction to Modern Philosophy: Examining the Human Condition. (New York: MacMillan Publishing Company, 1983) 8.

Russell, Bertrand. Why I am not a Christian. (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1957) 12.

Dostoyevsky, Fyodor. The Brothers Karamazov. Trans. Julius Katzer. (Moscow: Progress Publishers, 1980) 401.