Must one have religion to be a moral person or are morals with no foundation in religion possible?

Answer 1

No. The morals you have depend on how you are raised. Your environment, the people around, and what you are taught, is what sets a person morals. People raised differently will have different moral standards. It doesn't make them better or worse, though they may appear so as their ways are different. It's why so many people talk about diversity, and learning about understanding and accepting others' differences and similarities.

Answer 2

The real question is what is the basis for morals without religion and where do morals come from?
If there is no God then all morals are, are one guys or groups of guys made up preferences for what is good or bad, right or wrong, best or worse. Those with the most power and ability to use that power then determines for everyone else what they should consider morals, which are really only someone elses preferences they are trying to force on you.
With God, morals are defined by the creator. No human can makeup morals for you, they are absolutes given by God.

Answer 3

I am not a religious person, but I have plenty of morals. THe thing is some of the main teachings in most major religions teach lessons that can be applied in a non-religious context. Like the 'treat others as you'd want to be treated' is a rule that floats outside of religion, its a kind of common decency guide in life. Don't ever let a religious person say that you have no morals or don't know how to behave right, just because you may not follow thier religion or any other religious teachings.

Answer 4

No...you don't have to be religious to be moral. But, I think you'd be hard pressed to find any morals that are not traced back to some religious foundation. Did mankind automatically come to the conclusion that certain things were immoral? I doubt it. It was based on some belief and most laws today had their earliest start as religious laws...such as still exists in Islam. It was certain ideals, such as separation of church and state, that turned many of them into man's laws.

I think the key point made by the gentleman below is Surviving. Man will always do what is felt necessary to survive, either as a culture or an individual. Surviving was much more difficult in earlier years. A plot of land for growing food or game for meat meant life or death. When one or the other ran out, survival meant finding it elsewhere..possibly even taking it from someone else. Morals have changed and will continue to adapt based on what is needed to survive. Man will kill, steal, conquer, etc. if their immediate survival is at stake. I believe that goes for today as much as it did 100's or 1000's of years ago...and man will feel morally justified for doing so. The question is, have we redefined survival beyond the basic right to exist?

Answer 5

The moral foundation of a person is learned at home through the loving care and teachings of the parents. And if we were already adults we have the choice to be morally good.

Answer 6

My morality is based upon the purpose of all Life: To create more usefulness than we use up in resources. This requires a lot of thought, but basically, we need to encourage diversity to be able to continue as a species if, say, some disease wipes out everyone who goes to churches....The strong, the weak, the thoughtful, etc, can all be creators. Things that keep individuals from being creative are wrong: murder, bullies, profiteering, etc. The one natural right that everyone has is the right to try and live (be creative). All other rules and rights are granted by societies. Societies can either help the creativity of a species overall, or they can be bad for it. The ones that consume too many resources, kill too many people, or generally suppress the individual are doing harm to the future creativity of humanity.

Answer 7

You can still be a moral person without religion. Religion doesn't give you morals. It's teachings just usually reinforce good morals. You can learn from a religion's teachings without believing in it's "god".

Answer 8

A (large) number of the 'religious' postings I have seen here, are rooted in self righteousness, racism, and intolerance. It seems quite clear that religion has little to do with a persons moral integrity.
A belief in God, might have nothing to do with a particular theism or religious dogma. If you ask me, whatever God is, it is ineffable, it is absolutely unknowable, and not bound to any religion, culture, or words on a page.
I think morality itself is an extension of primate sociology. Animals within groups have rules that govern their behavior within that society and this has a direct correlation to the groups chances of survival within the natural world. Some of this extends from an innate sense of right and wrong, a basic behavioral instruction set imbued in our DNA, some are learned behaviors that vary between groups, (be it human, ape, wolfe, or any socially organized group of animals). What is generally thought of as good or acceptable behavior is what lends to the survivability of the group, what is evil is harmful to the group. Murder, rape, greed, theft, the things that are considered as selfish and evil behavior in most societies, are behaviors that are harmful to the society on a whole, what is selfless, and beneficial to the group, is considered morally good. Religious teachings, (in an ethical context), can be thought of as a more permanent record of the rules that govern acceptable behavior within a society.

Answer 9

It is possible if one takes a few minutes to keep in mind that morals are how one treats others. In a society if you treat other people in a way that they do not like, they will treat you in a fasion YOU do not want. Simple logic - do what improves people's lives and your life wil improve along with the rest.

The problem is that too many people use religion as a divisionary thing - if you are not with them, you are somehow less of a person.

Answer 10

Absolutely not. You can be a moral person without a religion. I have seen it. There was an actress that I had met who was agnostic and she nor most of her family were raised with any religion whatsoever, yet they were still good people. A person can always be good religion or not, it is what you choose to be that matters.

Answer 11

Ro:2:10: But glory, honour, and peace, to every man that worketh good, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile:
Ro:2:11: For there is no respect of persons with God.
Ro:2:12: For as many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law: and as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law;
Ro:2:13: (For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified.
Ro:2:14: For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves:
Ro:2:15: Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another;)
Ro:2:16: In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel.
GOD IS A SPIRIT.THE FOUNDATION IS IN JESUS CHRIST.