Does Morality Depend on Religion God morality and

Does Morality Depend on Religion? God, morality, and their separation.

The Presumed Connection Between Morality and Religion ▪ In popular thinking, morality and religion are inseparable. People commonly believe that morality can be understood only in the context of religion. ☞ Clergy and those considered pious are thus regarded as moral experts who will give sound moral advice.

The Scientific View of the Universe ▪ When viewed from a nonreligious perspective, the universe seems to be a cold, meaningless place, devoid of value and purpose. That all the labours of the ages, all the devotion, all the inspiration, all the noonday brightness of human genius, are destined to extinction in the vast death of the solar system, and that the whole temple of Man’s achievement must inevitably be buried beneath the debris of a universe in ruins. . . are yet so nearly certain that no philosophy which rejects them can hope to stand.

The Divine Command Theory ▪ Behavior is considered morally right if it is commanded by God and morally wrong if it is forbidden. o This seems to solve the objectivity problem in ethics. o Ethics is not merely a matter of personal feeling or social custom. It is God’s will. o The theory also provides a powerful motive to adhere to morality.

Mystery • If God makes actions right or wrong by saying so, this seems mysterious. • How could saying so make any difference? • So, we have no account of how this works.

Arbitrariness • If God makes actions right or wrong by saying so, then he does so for no reason. • So he could have said the opposite. – Child abuse, thus, is wrong. – Or, child abuse is right. • But if God makes morality arbitrary, it is irrational • And God is irrational.

Euthyphro Dilemma • Plato, in his dialogue Euthyphro, illustrates this problem. – Right and wrong are so because the gods say so. It follows that whatever they happen to say becomes right or wrong, regardless – Right and wrong are so already. The gods are irrelevant. Rather, the gods just tell us what is right or wrong. • The option where God makes right and wrong is the divine command theory.

Bad Motives • The divine command theory gives the wrong motive for moral action. – Pleasing and punishment are external rewards. – And, that is the motive. • According to theory, there is no such thing as acting just because it is right. • Such acts make no sense.

The Theory of Natural Law ▪ On this view, the world has a rational order, with values and purposes built in. o Derived from the ancient Greeks who believed that everything in nature has a purpose. o So, there is a neat hierarchy, with humans situated at the top.

The Theory of Natural Law ▪ The laws of nature describe not only how things are but also how things ought to be. ☞ The world is in harmony when things serve their natural purposes. ☞ When they do not, or cannot, things have gone wrong. ☞ Natural acts are morally right, and unnatural acts are morally wrong.

Natural Laws ☞ According to natural law theory, the natural laws are laws of reason. ☞ All can grasp these, equally. ☞ Similarly, natural laws are not arbitrary. ☞ Still, the motive to follow these laws is unclear.

Problems with Natural Law ▪ The idea that whatever natural is good seems open to obvious counterexamples. ☞ Natural disasters? ☞ Death? ☞ Disease?

Conjunction Function ▪ The theory seems to involve a confusion of is and ought. ☞ Just because sex can be for one thing, it does not follow that sex ought or ought not to be engaged in only for that purpose. ☞ If we took such single purposes of things as oughts, we would simplify all we do. Changing purposes would itself be immoral.

Natural Laws and Science ▪ The theory conflicts with modern science, where natural laws work blindly. ▪ Changes happen by mutation, selection, etc. ▪ All this happens without anything being designed for anything else.

Religion and Moral Issues ▪ It is often difficult to find specific moral guidance in Scriptures, regarding controversial issues that seem urgent to us today. ▪ Scriptures seem to say much immoral things. ▪ Religious authorities, moreover, disagree and so it is hard to say who is right.

Religion and Moral Issues ▪ People often make up their minds about moral issues first. ▪ And they use Scriptures to support this.

Conclusion ▪ Morality does not seem to derive from God. ▪ Associating morality and God, as noted, makes morality ▪ ▪ ▪ Mysterious Arbitrary Badly motivated Simplistic Unscientific, or contrary to science. ▪ Morality, rather, at least seems to be a matter of reason.