Is it possible to be a moral, upstanding individual without participation in organized religion?

Question

Is it absolutely necessary to be a "born again" Christian to be considered "moral" and "upstanding" as a person, a spouse, a parent, a citizen?

Can't a person follow the Golden Rule (not to mention the 10 Commandments) and - without any other personal, spiritual information about him/her - be considered a good person, coworker, spouse, parent, citizen?

As regards how we simply treat one another as human beings, it is totally necessary to wear/display the sign/label "born again Christian?"

Aren't works more important than words or professed theologies?

As they say,"talk is cheap." Anyone can "profess" anything. Isn't it more important how they actually live their life and treat fellow human beings?

For those who cared enough to check back at the responses, thank you. As you can see, there are many thoughtful, logical, wonderful answers...and there are the ones I expected to get; "If you don't join the club and play by our rules, you burn in Hell."

Nice...

Answer 1

Absolutely. It has been my continual experience that my friends who have the least religion have the highest morality. It is they who believe in helping the poor, in peace and kindness, in tolerance and love, in including children in their activities rather than separating adults and children in some kind of artificial hierarchy. There are many, many good, kind, loving religious folks out there who are the same way, but everything I have read and experienced about the hardcore rightwing fundamentalists is that they believe the poor are poor by choice, that individual responsibility is the key to success at all levels, that children should be seen and not heard, that severe punishment is the answer to most of the ills of the world, and that war is synomymous with patriotism.

I, myself, am a "born-again" Christian. Unlike many of my self-professed Christian brethren, however, I attempt to follow the teachings of Christ.

Religion should be more about how to live than how to die or about what happens when you die, or even if you are pleasing or displeasing some “higher power.”

For the truly moral Christians (and, for that matter, truly moral people), it’s not about reward and punishment. Not hurting other people, loving and being kind to your enemies , treating and loving others as you would like to be treated and loved, sharing, tolerance, understanding, in fact all of the teachings of Jesus, all boil down to one basic concept - love.

Jesus took the 10 Commandments and condensed them into 2:

1- Love Thy God (Commandments 1-4)

2- Love Thy Neighbor (Commandments 5-10)

The 2, however, are not mutually exclusive. We show our love of God by displaying our love of neighbor. From Matthew 25:40 ""The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'". The way we treat one another is the way we treat God.



Talk is cheap. It is much easier to say you are a Christian than to actually try to be "Christ-like". Love which is not accompanied by good works is not true love, but is merely lip service. That is why the James 2:20 says, "Faith without works is dead".

*****disclaimer*****
This is what I believe and who I am. I do not speak for all Christians.

Answer 2

The answer to your question is yes. There are plenty of people who either do not believe in God, or do not go to church on a regular basis, and they are still very good people. Not all atheists and non church-goers are bad people, just as not all church-goers are good people. Morals have nothing to do with religion. A moral is something you feel strongly about for one reason or another and you will stand by it no matter what. Religious people just tend to have religious themes to some of their morals. Both types of morals are equally relevent, as it is important to have goals and standards in life.

The only problem with what you have stated is that for christians, is it very important to "wear the label". Christians are taught from the time they're old enough to speak that their primary function on this earth is to witness to others and try to get as many people to believe in God as is possible. This is because they believe that if you are not "born again", you will not end up in Heaven. This is why Christians wear that out on their sleeves.

Whether or not you believe in God, it is still important to have morals and standards in your life. If you've done that, and you're happy with yourself, you're a good person.

Answer 3

It is possible to be a good person without subscribing to any particular religion. You can even be Christian without going to church. In my opinion, most "born agains" aren't good Christians. Most of the things that they do are against Christian philosophy (not dogma). If you want to be a good Christian or a good person in general, keep you faith close to your heart, but don't wear your heart on your sleeve. Religion nor faith should be a popularity contest, which is how these Evangelicals see it. The denomination with the most followers at "Rapture" wins. The,obviously have never read the New Testament.

Answer 4

We in Co-Masonry work to be morally upright, deal with all people on the level, conduct all our dealings on the square. In short, we are a system of morality.

We are not a religion. We do insist our members believe in a Supreme Being but we do not inquire beyond that. Religion and morality are not necessarily tied together. We work on the moral part.

It is a wonderful feeling to deal with people you know who are working to become as morally straight as they can be because they believe that is the best way to live this life.

Although some religions knock Freemasonry because we perform good works, I challenge the same of those who throw those stones. We make no claim on what happens in the afterlife, just that helping each other seems to make the world better. Try preaching theology to a burned child.

Faith without works is dead.

A Master Mason
American Co-Masonry

Hiram Lodge (Santa Cruz, CA)
Amon Ra Lodge (Los Angeles, CA)
Sapientia Lodge of Research (Larkspur, CO)
Adamant Mark Lodge (Santa Cruz, CA)

Answer 5

you don't have to go to church to be a moral upstanding person or one to participate in an organized religion to be considered ethical.

going to church/ being affiliated with an organized religion is good in a sense that you surround yourself with people that have similar beliefs like you; it's more for the fellowship and the reinforcement of the religion because you are surrounded by people of the same conviction.

you can totally believe in god and be a good person without being a part of an organized religion. not that you can go out and create your own religion, but if you follow the bible and the commandements, i feel that you'd get by in life all right.

and yes, how people outwardly live their lives is importnat too.

Answer 6

Absolutely. Living a Christian kind of life is possible for anyone...even an atheist. However, even though I do not believe in the theologies of most organized Christian religions, I do believe in the basic concept of God the creator and Jesus the Son of God who came to show us the way to salvation. As the Bible says, Works without faith are dead.

Answer 7

You're actually more likely to be a moral person if you are an atheist.

Religion makes you morally lazy. It spoonfeeds you want it wants you to think is right and wrong and discourages any thought on why it is right or wrong, other than "God said so".

On the other hand, without religion, a person is forced to actually think about issues and come to a reasoned response to various situations. You might not agree with a person's morals, but you can be sure the person has thought more about them and would be more willing to hear any reasoning you have to the contrary.

Many laws in this country are being made because of sensitivity to religious superstition. We've finally gotten rid of the "blue laws", but more insidious ones are now taking their place.

Answer 8

Yes, it's called spirituality. I'm Gnostic and that's not a religion. It's a spirituality and psychology. One of the Gnostic scriptures says (in the Gospel of Thomas), "The Kingdom of God is inside you and all around you, not in buildings made of wood and stone. Split a piece of wood and I'm there. Lift a stone and you will find me." It means the people are the church not the building and you don't need a priest or intercessor. You can have a relationship between God and you. You can speak to God at anytime and anywhere because He is always with you. You can talk to Him like you would talk to a friend or a relative.

Answer 9

Yes, to the first question. The rest...well, go to my 360, and read my entry, "What Have You Done For God Lately?" You might be pleasantly surprised to see that I agree with you.
It means NOTHING to pay lip service to a faith if one is not LIVING it.
I would not call myself a Christian if I wasn't at least TRYING to be Christ-like. Otherwise, all a person would see when they looked at my life is hypocrisy. I would be HORRIFIED if that was true!

It's a sad state of affairs when some atheists are more moral than many Christians are.

Answer 10

Of course. Morals are objective not absolute. What is moral in 1 culture is immoral in another. Morals are simply the basic guidelines for society to exist. I am an atheist and many people that know me without knowing that say I am a moral guy.