Do morality and ethics need to be saved from religion ?

Question

I wonder who will be the first to say morality and ethics come from god :-)

Julia, why did you change your answer ? Did you realise on rereading it that it didn't make much sense so instead went for the vague non specific statement so favoured by religious apologists.

Answer 1

Morals and ethics have nothing to do with religion and need to be saved.

Answer 2

To me, the most important aspect of this question is the point that morality and ethics can be achieved without religion. There will always be moral and ethical people who are religious or not; there will always be immoral and unethical people who are religious or not. Those who call themselves religious haven't cornered the market on morality. I've always agreed with the bumpersticker from a few years ago, "The Moral Majority is Neither!"

Answer 3

Traditionally morals and ethics come from religion. The fear of going to hell make people try to be good while they are here. I think it should be saved from religion but what can people fear here on earth that would make them be good? Why is it that we use fear to try to make people good? I think religion has put a crutch on ethics and morality because God is all forgiving. You can do whatever you want and you at least have God to love you in the end. If people were shunned for bad behaviors by society with no one there for them, not even God, then I think people would think twice about what they do. This may sound outlandish but think about a world where God never existed. All we would have is ourselves to look to.

Answer 4

Lets not confuse religion with God here.

Religion may be the antithesis of morality and ethics.

I say this because religion calls for selective morality and ethics based on judgment of the situation.

True morality and ethics come from God and do not change to fit the situation, and can only be practiced blind to the perceived consequences of the situation.

Answer 5

most of us are born with the spirit that is able to tell bad from good. Haven't you ever noticed a child that is comfortable with some people and just doesn't like others. That is their sense in their spirit telling them whether they should be comfortable with someone. As they get older they understand in that same way what is right and wrong. They have a choice to choose one or the other. It is within you from birth, some people drive it out of themselves. It is the spirit of God. Whatever god or higher power you believe in. Whether you belong to a religion or not, it comes with your spirit from birth.
I am a spiritual person, but not a religious person. And I try my best every day to be a good person. I think that anyone else can be moral and ethical, even without religion.

Answer 6

I am not religious at all, yet I have a moral code to which I adhere, and I believe I am an person as well.

Was the Spanish Inquisition moral? Or the crusades? Suicide bombers? All in the name of religion.

What about missionaries? Is it truly ethical to march into a community that has worshipped nature, or the sun for a thousand years and tell them that unless they believe in blah blah blah they will burn in hell and cannot go to "heaven"?

No, I am afraid that morals, ethics, and religeon make strange bedfellows.

I believe in treating everyone the way I would like to be treated. I don't need a priest, vicar, imam, or adherance to any religeous creed to do that.

HRH

Answer 7

If you wonder if morality and ethics come from God....they do!..IF they are utilized by mankind according to GOD'S will, not man's. Morality and ethics have gone downhill because everyone feels they can do whatever they want according to THEIR will. That's why the world's society is in such a moral breakdown. But don't worry...God, who knows humans very well will rectify the mess we've gotten ourselves into. Through his Kingdom he will have just righteous people with good morals and ethics living on the earth...forever! Can't wait!

Answer 8

Morality and ethics are rooted in our evolutionary past, and are part of human nature. Religions attempt to lay claim to morality when in fact most religions are amoral. Moreover, any moral viewpoint based on religious claims must be discounted since no-one has ever proven a god to exist, and they never will, so any claim based on the existence of a god or what his wishes are has no validity.

Answer 9

Religion never held the franchise on morality or ethics although they frequently try to claim it. If anything morality & ethics need to wrestled out of the clutches of religious hotheads and zealots who are making a mockery of both.

Answer 10

At least ethics... by definition ethics is like a non-bias subject in which, regardless of your faith, you need to be honest an agree with what is a philosophical truth about the right or wrong doings in our behaviour...When there's one, of course...Morality is more like a set of customs and cultural norms that guide us, yet sometimes some moral "norms" can mislead us to be, in truthful tought, somewhat anti-ethical. We must have Ethics appart from any bias or dishonest claim, no matter what we learned with our culture- that is, no matter what we learned was "moral".

Answer 11

What kind of worldview would try to censor the religious community from speaking out on moral and ethical issues?