Relationship Between Morality And Religion

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The Relationship between Morality and Religion This essay explores how religion and morality intertwine. More often, morality is perceived unsatisfactory without religion because why should someone be moral if there is no reward after every day life’s struggles. According to Gaukroger (2012), during the 17th century, it was perceived that morality could not do without religion. This view gradually changed in 1690 when Pierre Bayle asserted that religion is neither necessary nor sufficient for morality. The assumption of a fundamental link between religion and morality brings about the argument for the existence of God. The fact that there are moral guidelines to help us in living our lives in a purposeful manner does it mean there is a God?…show more content…
Philosophers have long since argued that morality is opposed to religion. Some say the religious people do not make good citizens, others say that much evil is brought about by the religious people because of their beliefs. For example, Kierkegaard (1986) considers the biblical story of Abraham told by God to sacrifice his son Isaac by God (Genesis 22). Kierkegaard says that Abraham was bound to do what God commanded. In addition, he says that there can be no question of ethics in the sense of morality ... Ordinarily speaking a temptation is something which tries to stop a man from doing God’s will. But what then is duty? Duty is quite simply the expression of the will of God. In another viewpoint, is there a being that does nothing to hamper with people who wish to remain autonomous moral agents. Is it also possible that there is a divine being who will always require people to be autonomous moral…show more content…
Or maintain that no direction which does not accept on moral grounds is a genuine divine command.’ This shows that God commands agents to do specific things. God would by no means command a well informed human moral agent to do something that the agent would disapprove. Thus Believers will consistently, say that they worship a God that always wills them to conduct themselves as autonomous moral agents. It is therefore misleading to say that morality and religion are opposed to each other. Davies (1993), we cannot completely say that morality is opposed to religion as we have to move slowly with reference to various understandings of both religion and morality. In conclusion, we can see that the relationship between morality and religion is contradictory. In one way we can say that morality needs religion for one to lead a meaningful life. In another way, some people say that morality does not need religion, but there is insufficient evidence for this argument to be strong as in present times people live morally because they expect to get a reward in the afterlife. Therefore, morality need and is included in

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