Can we have morality without religion?

Question

I think we can. But many a time has a religious idiot said to me..."Well if you don;t believe in God how can you lead a good life, what example doyou follow, what are your principle morals?"...My response has been "I lead a better life than you, follow a more commendable example of life than you, and have clandestine morals unpervatable by religious, racial and sexual differences. I am a scientist, and really I think we have superior morality!

In reference to the comment "
Mr Scientist you are completely wrong go back to your books..Everything must have a source including goodness"

A.) You have terrible grammar!
B.) Yes goodness does have a source, and that is, fundamentally, that which makes us feel good (hormonal/nervous response [not mumbojumbo bout the soul etc].
C.) All wars have a source, and 9/10 it's religion, so take your bs elsewhere

Answer 1

God created us and put in us a conscience to do what is right. If there is no God, no creator, then no there could be no morality. It has a source.

Answer 2

well, I dont know if I would go that far as to say scientists have more morals than anyone else. Perhpas you had a higher moral system then that particualr person.

But I would say yes, people could have a sense of decentcy to others inspite of their lack of a commitment to a religious group.
I dont see why not.
The only ones that would argue that would probably be the self righteous religious goers who are ultimately out to prove their spiritual superiority to others.

P.S.
An I would like to disagree with that GOD saved man so that man can become GOD statement.
so that man would learn to honour respct and obey GOD would be a more accurate statement dont you think

possibly could have the same meaning, but the wording is weird.
and even though I was raised catholic, I have alwasy had a problem with the saints the catholic religion has created.
Just doesnt seem to fit in my eyes, to honor and pay homage to someone other than GOD.

Thats just me though.

= = = = = = = == = = = =
Chooze lifes comment.
'if no opne finds out then nothing is wrong"

but there would be something wrong. The guilt the person who committed the adultery would have.
For anyone that would keep it a secret would do so for a reason wouldnt they?
Hence a moral person would feel guilty for their deed, or else they would do it out in the open, and no tkeep it a secret whatsoever.


And lets not forget the inner turmoil that happens should a spouse cheat on another.

Are you about to say you could cheat with a clear conscious on someone you love dearly?
No, you couldnt,and I doubt many others out there could as well.
Thats morality

Answer 3

I agree with the idea that you can have morality without religion. So many people here assume that no religion means a complete lack of morals and I find that personally insulting. Ideas like altruism and empathy arent always inspired by religion. People have the capacity for good. But, just because you are a scientist doesnt give you an automatic place on some moral high ground for you to look down on the rest of us. (Us, being religious and secular non scientists)
I'd question the morality of anyone involved in the construction and development of the "Manhattan Project". Albert Einstein had his regrets about it didnt he?

Answer 4

Everyone has the ability to lead a moral life, with or without religion. For you to claim your superior morality is a joke. I am agnostic, and still feel that I lead a good life. Good meaning good to others as well as myself. I have met many Christians that I would happily take their lives and compare with yours and I know that morally, they would win. I have also known Christians that I would guess (though I am not God and cannot judge) will never see inside the gates. Likewise with scientists. This is all from the viewpoint that heaven does indeed exist (though I am not sure about that either).

Answer 5

Philosophers of ancient times discussed morality. Morality is not dependent upon having a religion.

Morality is within the scope of philosophy as well as religion. Hence a person with no religious affiliation or belief in a god can certainly have high morals. Religious zealots and religious bigots seem to think they have the highest morals. Balogna!






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Answer 6

I both agree and disagree with your 'statements' interior the 'clarification' of your question. convinced, the Catholic church did do many 'evil issues' yet that doesn't advise that all Catholics believe them, or may do similar if given the threat. I actually have many acquaintances who're atheist/agnostic, and that i understand them to be 'good, moral human beings' as my husband and that i are. The 'truth' that you're 'lacking' the following, even with the truth that, is that 'faith' is so previous that it should be 'dated decrease back' to the very beginnings of primitive society, and it truly is 'from those religions' (a lot of that are literally no longer 'practiced' or 'believed in') that our 'moral code' comes ... in case you may only 'reword' your 'sentence' 'with out faith there is no morality,' to some thing extra 'precise' ... the first moral codes got here with the early strengthen of non secular idea in primitive cases, yet in this 'technological international' the 'moral code' exceeds the 'strictly non secular' teachings of the church homes on the instant,' then you'll discover how i visit 'agree' and 'disagree' with your entire 'theory' ... that relgion is 'undesirable' and ought to no longer make 'morals' ... faith won't be able to be 'undesirable' nor 'good' ... and it truly is in common words the 'individual individual' who can be sure even if to 'keep on with that faith's moral code or take his morals from generic society, or devise his own moral code. And by how, calling some thing a 'moral code' doesn't INFER that it truly is 'good' ... the 'moral code' that became practiced by the golf eco-friendly River Killer, or the Oklahoma Bomber, or the human beings who ran the planes into the international commerce midsection did not keep on with any 'church/synagogue/mosque moral code' yet had an quite 'evil' one ... so 'moral' does no longer continually mean 'good.' imagine about that, then take a 'good look' at your 'clarification' back.

Answer 7

Of course we could! If an atheist and a follower of a religion kill who is the Immoral one! Both because no-one should have the right to kill! I dont need a God to know that its wrong! I dont believe that its a decline in Religion that is the cause of the Immoral behaviour of society. That has many other causes including the Do-Gooders who scream abuse at any sign of 'Punishment' We are bringing children into the world with the attitude that they can do what they want without reprisals! It isn't confined to one part of society and there are many 'religious' people in our jails. Far more of them than Atheists certainly!

Answer 8

I certainly think that you can. It's easy to discuss morality without ever once having to mention god.

In fact, I find the "morality" of many religious people to be quite self-centered. They are doing good, not for the betterment of humankind, but rather to win brownie points so they can get into heaven, or to avoid eternal punishment. Granted, this is not true of all religious people, but that ulterior motive is still there.

And to the person above who made the assertion that the rise in societal ills and the drop in religion are corollary, that is simply untrue. I attach a study that shows that the more secular a society is, the less instances there are of abortion, unwanted pregnancy, violent crime, rape, etc. Now, mind you, correlation does not necessarily equal causation, but it does cause one to want to peer deeper into this to see if they do work in tandem.

Answer 9

I know of a few people who are not religious but seem to be moral people.

I do believe that most religions do the best job of teaching people morality, and that is why others have morality.

Take religion out of the world and be sure, you would have a decaying morality problem. Where else would most people learn to be moral? We cannot teach it in schools. And who would say what is or isn't moral?

I don't care about science, as far as I can tell we would be better off without most of the science because it too has become another religion and it doesn't seem to teach morals, it seems to attack them and their root......

Kind of like what you did in the way you asked this question!

Answer 10

okay well to look at it in another perspective, without religion, we wouldn't have a common goal... there wouldn't be as many people on yor side... no we can't have morals without religion because religion is a set of morals that usually are defined by a god (gods) or a higher being... even if you are moral and say you have no religion... yes you do have a god (technically) the higher being that you listen to right now is yourself (so you are ruling yourself and putting yourself on the throne of your life). morality can also be defined in so many ways. one man may think that it is moral to blow his best friends head off as some kind of sacrifice, and to him...that is moral, but to some one else, that violent action might seem cruel and they might think that he went to the extremes ... but he was just following his morals... religion divides everything out so that you know where people stand and who will sway under pressure or whent heir morality is questioned and who will stand strong. morality is all in how you view it and i don't think that someone can say that they have no religion or god... if they worship no other god, they must be making themselves their god. my perspective is:
if we know about religion, and there are certain 'good' ways to act and 'bad' ways... why wouldn't we pick the one that is best for us... and if the "god thing' seems to be working, and getting to know God betters your life, why woudn't you do it? why wouldn't someone want to better their life and make things greater for themselves if all they have to do is praise God and truly find a connection... why don't they give it a true shot to see if it works and try it for a while, and if it doesn't work, move on? i am hoping that this all sorta makes sense.. hope i helped...

Answer 11

Yes we can have a morality without god or religion. It is difficult to imagine a modern society run along purely secular lines, but in the West some of us are trying. and look at Japan - its religion has shrunk to a few stress-bustinig rituals, but its laws, public life etc are all purely secular and quite positive and life-affirming.