Is religion the fundamental building block of morality?

Question

I don't think so, being an atheist myself. I don't believe the evidence supports such a view.

Just curious.

Answer 1

I'm a Deist, and I base my morality on reason and empathy. For example, if something is going to cause harm to someone or to something, then it's most likely wrong. I've also known atheists and agnostics who were morally upstanding people and religious people who were immoral hypocrites. Religion is NOT the fundamental building block of morality!:)

Answer 2

No it is not, as Christians are some of the worst in practicing moral beliefs based on a document that is poorly and loosely interpreted, which was written so long after the death of Christ, it would be considered fiction if it were placed on library shelves today! The reason is they do it selectively and they are no great followers of the bible either! If they were, there would be no poverty in this country!

My issue is the Bible is almost always taken out of context and used against others, like they were Jesus Christ himself, and the can't even get that right.

For instance, the Bible does not say "Thou shall not kill"! It says Thou shall not murder! It is also taken out of contest, "spare the rod and spoil the child"! Jesus certainly did not mean it in the way parents use it as a rationalization for hitting children! A rod, or "chabot", were used by sheep herders to GUIDE their sheep, not beat them. I have never heard of a sheep herder strike a sheep with a rod! And that is but one example how Many twist the Bible!

While I am a Christian, I have issues with dogma and with the fact that churches today are mainly businesses!

And yes I went to church last Sunday from 1 until 3!

Answer 3

It can be but for some people it is not essential. Religion is a guide for people to live by. In a civil society as most are today religion still has a role but it is less associated with the morality than before. Obviously when Catholic Priests are caught in sex scandals and teleevangelists are too morality cannot be one of the top priorities of modern religious thought.

Answer 4

Morality exists in all religions, and even among atheists. The same basic principles apply to all, as a matter of survival & instinct.

All sane people agree that murder and rape are wrong; most people agree that theft is wrong (though some give exception in cases of survival vs. morality).

Religion didn't invent morality - it just gives some people incentive to enforce that morality through a punishment-and-rewards system.

Answer 5

If so then religion must predate morality but that's impossible to prove and difficult for me to accept. For better or worse, the purpose of religion is to get people thinking and acting in a more peaceful/controlled way.

Answer 6

Religion is one of the building blocks of morality along with family and society as a whole. However religion is probably a close second to parents as being the most important.

Answer 7

I'm quite religious myself, but I don't feel that "religion" is a "building block" of morality. Religion is a set of teachings and practices that aid in the learning and application of ethics and morality (or should be), but ethics and morality are themselves universal truths that exist outside whatever framework we choose (religious or otherwise) to approximate them.

Answer 8

Morality is a defined by our culture, whether it is from people who are religious or not. People learn about right and wrong, even those who weren't taught religion. We have immorality among those who are religious or not. I am also sure there were definitions of what was immoral and moral way before "Jesus" came along.

Answer 9

I believe so, depending upon the faith. (note - I make the distinction as to not get caught up in legalism - that is, religious interpretation of scripture to the point of being too strict)

I once saw a movie about where they were back in the 1800s, debating whether morality could be tought separately from faith.

Then, one guy gets into a time machine and comes into the present day and finds out the result of it.

Answer 10

NO

Religion is a fundamental building block of robbing from society.

God created Man
Man created religion.

Go big Red Go