Is Religion The Origin Of Morality?

Question

Personally, I believe than man is innately a moral creature... that these morals derive from higher cognition and that religion is an early attempt to rationalize it. Unfortunately, over the ages, that has been forgotten. How else could you explain why the tenants of every major world religion throughout time has been so similar? They all attempt to explain why things are right and why they are wrong, even though they may not agree on all issues, the intent to rationalize actions are there.

So did religion invent morality, or did morality invent religion?

Is morality for the sake of reward/avoiding of punishment morality at all?

Isn't that only a vile self intrest?

Question extended.

Answer 1

Many people to whom morality was taught through the medium of religion really believe that there is no other motive for wanting to do what is right than to avoid the wrath of God. It is premised on the belief that if there is no God, nothing is forbidden. This is one of the silliest things that has ever been said. If I do not believe in God it does not mean that I can safely drive on the right of the road in London or the left in Paris. It does not mean that thieves are any less nuisance to honest men or that a society infected with thieves is not involved in great expense to keep the pest under control. If a man's conscience disintegrates when he loses his faith in God, it cannot have set properly when he was young. It is still in the infantile stage of a desire to be approved of by others and has not yet grown into a sense of what is right and wrong.

A favorite argument nowadays, of the supporters of organized religion, is that it is necessary to good conduct and social harmony. The decay of religion is blamed for the crime waves, the broken homes, the strife and ill-will that torment the modern world.

Morality is desired and respected for its own sake, religion is being recommended to us because it supports morality, not morality because it derives from religion.

I hope, that answers your question.

Answer 2

Origin Of Morality

Answer 3

Neither. Morality exists independently. Different religions try to explain morality in different ways which shows that most religions deem morality as an important subject. Yet I think that if we never had religion, we would still have morality. When you ask 'Did morality invent religion?' are you really asking whether religion came out of moral responsibility? I would again say no. I think religion came to be from a way to explain the things that people can't explain. This, in some ways, includes morality; but again, I think it exists independently.

Answer 4

No, I believe religion is the enforcement of morality.

Early humans realized that the only way to survive was to cooperate as a team. As more people came into the fold and started to form a community, the need for rules became more apparent. If you have a person hurting/stealing/etc others within the community, that person needed to be punished.

Then there would be rules that some people might disagree with or might question. Rather than try to go through the explanation over and over again and constantly have debates, sometimes it's just easier to say "This was a commandment from God -- just deal with it!" Heck, I say this at work ALL the time...

At the same time, inexplicable things would happen to the community. Things like plagues, poisonings, floods. At some point, I'm sure someone stood up and said "A higher being must be trying to punish us for some reason; we shouldn't do this anymore."

Therefore, religion became the enforcement for such the laws and rules. If you don't do this, God is going to punish you... or all of us! Look at much of what the Old Testament says. You have things like not eating pork/shellfish, men getting circumsized, slavery, even planting two crops in the same field -- all in the name of "a commandment from God". Rather than attempting to explain some of life's complexities, religion became the enforcer. But that's just my two bits...

Answer 5

I disagree. I think man is innately animalistic born with the basic necessities for survival and that morals were developed over time. I think morals stem from the consequences of immoral behavior and that religion was served as a tool to enforce morality. To keep humanity at bay, so to say.



You may want to look into a book called "Religion explained" by Pascal Boyer.

Answer 6

Morality and religion don't go together, because at least for the Xtian sense, it's IMMORAL in many aspects. What religion involves is CONTROLLING and INDOCTRINATING people based on personal beliefs of right and wrong, regardless of the morality of the issue. After all, morality is defined by society and groups, not religion.

Answer 7

Great question. Religion invented morality, but religion is now too intolerant to deal with the diversity of beliefs in our society. It's time to abandon religion and move to a totally secular world. Religion tries to tell us how to live our lives. That is dead wrong. Time to become a secularist. One should not impose one's way of life on others the way today's religious are trying to do.

Answer 8

i think both are correct. religion invented morality and morality invented religion, but from different perspectives. if u are religious and believe that religion had 2 come first then religion invented morality. if you think that man has an innate sense of right and wrong then you would say that the morality of man caused him to invent religion, but this would go against the beliefs of truly religious people who would say God invented their religion. so i'd say God invented morality and religion.

Answer 9

You put that very well, certainly made a great argument. It is something to think about it and part of me agrees with the idea that morality may have invented religion.

Answer 10

I think most people are born with the sense of what is right or wrong. Religion takes moral issues and tries to control people through them,thus; gaining more power for themselves.