Religious Ethics


Moralistic living that stems from religious belief is something that is interesting to debate. While many follow their moral ways blindly, there are others who question why certain actions are right and why others are wrong. If a person’s morality stems from his or her religion, many will be bold enough to call that person a hypocrite. Since it is common knowledge that no person is completely moral, this raises many other issues. Something else to consider is whether or not human beings are able to be moral without religion; and if this is true, why do we need religion in the first place?

Morality and religion

Being good in order to attain salvation is a common belief in almost all religions of the world. Many people act out their interpretations of being a good person so that they can one day go to heaven instead of suffering some form of post-death judgment. But this line of thinking begs a few pertinent questions.

Can humans be moral?

Who can be completely moral? Do we really need to live our lives in such a way that the good outweighs the bad? And if so, what about the bad things we have done? Are they simply forgotten and cancelled out because of the good we have done? No human being in their right mind would claim to be perfect. Because we know that no one has ever been or can currently be perfect, we must ask ourselves how and if we will ever pay for our bad deeds. Yes, people can do good—and many suggest that we focus on the good rather than the bad—but the bad is still there, whether we like it or not.

Morality without religion

Many atheists promote the idea that men and woman can be good people without the rules and dictations of religion. As atheism spreads, only time will tell whether a world without God will bring more morality—or gradual moral decline. Being good to one another is a good concept in theory , but as we have already discovered, men’s motives are always geared to selfishness.

Religious ethics will always have a part in people’s lives as long as religion is in the world. Perhaps it is time we start to individually assess if and why we want to be moral and make sure that our intentions are pure.


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