Religion and Morality Essay

In this idea I will discuss the relationship between pietism and chasteity. I will first address the question asked by those with religious belief, how are atheists accountabilityeous? Then I will examine piety and its relativity to refining. adjoining I will explore whether those without a religion are re eachy more moral than those with a religion. And finally, I will discuss any feasible objections to my claims. This argument is in no way saying that those that hope in idol are unmoral but that those who dont moot in God, are respectable as exposed of being moral. cosmos atheist means that you choose to debate that God, or a god, does non exist. You build no faith or religion, you dont go to church eery Sunday morning, or pray every nighttime before you go to bed. Therefore the belief is that youre condemned to spend the hiatus of eternity in hell. So just because a person doesnt believe in a God, does that make them a bad person? A common question of those with religion is, where do atheists get their moral compass from? Atheists arent taught by any type of ultimate crack that they cant lie, cheat, steal, rape, or murder. So how do they know non to do it?The underlying message I interpret from this is religion is what keeps everybody in the world moral. That the just now thing stopping you from murdering some oneness is reading a Bible (Marcotti, 2011). Just because you dont have a script does it mean that you want to go around blowing up buildings and terrorizing grocery stores. Its safe to assume that most quite a little want to do impregnable in the world. There is the occasional serial blot outer every one time in a while but, the bulk of the worlds community is promoting good that exists in all forms because everybody has a different idea of whats right from wrong.Some mess make incredible scientific discoveries to better mankind, thats considered good. Others might go to countries and help those less fortunate, also good. One might reply that these are just acts of godliness. And that they still dont arrange a moral person. But if you count to the highest degree it, nobodys born with a perfect moral compass. Nobody is born with morals. not even those that are born into a religion. In our society, when were adolescent and we tell a white lie, we learn the consequences. Some are told by their parents, who are told by the Bible, that it is wrong.Others learn that when you deceive people, it can have numerous effects. Through experience and questioning, do children profit their sense of right and wrong. Which accompanies them end-to-end the rest of their lives. In Louise M. Antonys Philosophers Without Gods, she says that, All that is lost, if there is no God, is a divine enforcer. In a world without God, there is no warrantee that the virtuous will ever be rewarded, nor that the vicious will ever be punished. We must do what is right simply because it is right, (Antony, 2007, pg. 51). Let s look at piety and religion from a cultural standpoint.When apply in a descriptive sense morality refers to codes of conduct that are really put forward and accepted by some society, group, or individual, (Gert, 2012). If you think about it, there are over seven billion people spread out over seven continents in our world. The majority of those people have a religion and believe in a God. But, what about the people that arent even exposed to the idea of a God? Lets say a rural, very secluded common people in the habitable regions of northeast Asia. Just because they dont have a religion, would that make them bad people?If they lead a ingenuous life sentence and didnt steal, lie, commit adultery, or murder, why should they be mark as unmoral for something they have no control over. An ex carrelent insight into Chinese culture and religion is portrayed in the book, The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck. Even though this example is a fictional story, its based off of a real culture a nd the religious views of that culture in the late nineteenth century. The protagonist Wang Lung practices a religion with the Earth. When his pare is well and thriving he pays homage to the Earth God and when his line up is poor he resents the Earth God.At a point in the book, Wang Lung kills his newborn daughter because of her sex. During a time of famine, he steals gold coins from a wealthy family. And after he encounters property and prosperity, he spends his time in a tea house with a concubine rather of with his decease wife (Sparknotes Editors, 2012). But, in this story the main character does feel iniquity for the things that he did. Knowing that it wasnt right, and that it didnt feel right to kill his newborn child, Wang Lung still did it and the act was perfectly acceptable according to their culture.When he stole the gold from the wealthy, he knew morally that it was wrong but, his family needed the money thusly his motivation was to provide for them. And when he pur chased a concubine, Wang Lung was complying with the cultural average of wealthy Chinese men. Whereas in our culture, and its predominant religion, the idea of adultery and hunger is considered unmoral. It is even arguable that those without a religion are more unfeignedly moral. For example, the Christian religion. The whole belief is that you dont sin and therefore are rewarded with eternal bliss. If you do sin then you will be forever damned.The motivation for all the good that they are guided to do is to have a better afterlife, selfish isnt it? Well one who has no religion, has no belief in the afterlife. All the actions and choices that they make in this physical life are all they have. They live for today instead of living for tomorrow, metaphorically. When you do the right thing, like not lie, cheat, steal, then your life will reflect upon that. If you rape someone then our judicial dust will lock you up in a concrete cell for a few decades and then you just wasted half o f the only life you have.From this you could say that an Atheist has more to lose by not being moral. For this argument, well known atheists, Ricky Gervais said, Forgiveness is probably the greatest equity there is. But thats exactly what it is - a virtue. Not just a Christian virtue. No one owns being good. Im good. I just dont believe Ill be rewarded for it in heaven. My reward is here and now. Its knowing that I puree to do the right thing. That I lived a good life, (Gervais, 2010). A possible objection brought upon by these claims would be simply that God do morality and its not something we acquire.And for those that have faith in God, in all honesty why should they believe any differently? Their faith is what allows them to believe without having any need for reason, and that is extremely commendable. Many people arent capable of providing that much trust in the existence of a supernatural being. In this case, there are two sides to the story and it really does come atomic pile to which side you are on. Those that have a religion would say that their morality has come from the teachings of that religion. But, they wouldnt know any otherwise.Even if they came to religion later on in life, the bible provides written, physical guidance. An atheist would have a keen palette, not influenced by any ideas or direction. So the question of their morality is perfectly understandable. Its like saying if I had a candy bar, how could someone else conjure that candy bar and experience the same sensation of it. In this paper, I explored a few concepts that argue the relationship between religion and morality. First by arguing where morality comes from, I said that it is something that we acquire through society. Next I said that morality is related to the religions amidst a culture.Last, I put forward that those without a religion are in truth more moral than those with a religion. I Finished by providing objections and a point of view for those with a religion. The examples from literature that were used supported the claims made in the paragraphs. With these arguments, I believe that the relationship between religion and morality was effectively exposed. That it is not necessary for one to have a religion and be moral. References Antony, L. (2007). Philosophers Without Gods . Oxford University Press Gert, Bernard, The Definition of Morality, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall 2012 Edition), Edward N.Zalta (ed. ), uniform resource locator = . Gervais, Ricky (2010) Ricky Gervais Why Im an Atheist The Wall Street daybook Online Available at http//blogs. wsj. com/speakeasy/2010/12/19/a-holiday-message-from-ricky-gervais-why-im-an-atheist/ Marcotte, Amanda (2011) 10 Myths Many phantasmal People Hold About Atheists, Debunked AlterNet Online Available at http//www. alternet. org/story/152395/10_myths_many_religious_people_hold_about_atheists,_debunked SparkNotes Editors. (2003). SparkNote on The Good Earth. Retrieved October 25, 2 012, from http//www. sparknotes. com/lit/goodearth/