Do you feel it is possible to be a moral person without being religious or a religious person without morals?

Answer 1

certainly to both

Answer 2

It is very possible to be a moral person without religion. Freud was an atheist but he had very high moral standards. It is common for a religious person to be completely lacking in morals, though. Just look at the average Christian today, or even more, the average Muslim.

Answer 3

I think morals have nothing to do with your faith. But if you are a religious person without morals then you are no better than a criminal. Moral is defined as basically knowing the difference of right and wrong. You can be a pagan and never kill anyone or always say please and thankyou. But you can be a christian and be put in prision for raping a little girl.
Hope I cleared that up for you. :(

Answer 4

Per part #2 yes. We see frequently the religious who have "fallen" and the religious who are hippocrates.

Part #1 is more difficult. What do you mean when you say moral? Unless there is some religious/philosophical basis, one person's morality is another's outrage. It is simply a matter of opinion. Or is a person moral simply because they are true to their own philosophical framework, regardless what anyone else thinks about it?

Answer 5

moral w/o religion- certainly possible-
I am not sure what this kind of person's morals would be based on, but it is certainly possible.

religious w/o morals- sadly possible-
I know that there are many who claim affiliation with a specific religion who often act w/o what I would call moral fore-sight.

Hope no one thinks I'm part of the latter group. Yes, I'm religious, and I feel I am a moral person....

Which brings up another question- What are morals and how do we measure the moral-ness of another, taking into account the influence of culture, gender, etc?

Answer 6

Unfortunately, it seems to happen with frequent regularity in exactly the order you have described...(a non-religious moral person speaking). Although most self described religious people claim to have the perfect moral example to go by, it seems to me that the human claim to perfection is always a great and vast contradiction. It is one of the paradoxes of religion or spirituality that the better one supposes oneself to be, the worse one is actually becoming. It is in realizing the spiritual and moral shortcomings of the human condition that one may make spiritual progress, and the opposite occurs as one's ego and self-agrandizement proliferates. You can test this theory through personal observation, and I think you will find it to be sound.
Think of someone you admire, a hero that you look up to...and I am willing to bet that their appeal begins with a selfless and moral nature and not a selfish and amoral nature. Except, currently in America...it may be that our heroes consist of the latter. Or at least our prominent examples do.

Answer 7

There are plenty of religious people without morals.

There are plenty of "moral" people, but I suggest they are abiding by a kind of religion.

The question is if morals or religion are the means by which we can approach God. I think all people with religion fail to execute their religion perfectly, and all people with morals do not abide my their morals even most of the time. So morality and religion cannot be the answer to the question of what it takes to have the ability to approach God.

Answer 8

yes moral person without being religous is possible . but this cannot be for a long time if that person is being praised that will behoove him to continue to be a moral. but circumstances will come where he will compromise the principles because of his uncontrolled mind and unsatiable desires. he will do these things secretly .because his public image will go down. this qualities are not coming natural,because that he is not dependable on god. normally religious persons are god fearing so they cannot be without morals .

Answer 9

Yes, it's very possible. I'm not religious yet I have morals some of the the very same as Christians. And all we have to do is look at certain polictical and relious leaders to see that they have no morals.

Answer 10

Yes a non religious person can be a good moral person but a religious person without moral is a hypocrite.

Answer 11

Most Christians have no morals. They claim they are wicked & evil and the only reason they are going to heaven is because God killed himself.

Non-religious people, or, people who follow religions that have rules to follow, are usually more moral and ethical.