What has religion got to with morality?

Question

Religion could just be about believing in a God, it doesn't have to involve how you treat others. Just as there are moral philosophies and moral Aetheists, why is there moral Christians as well? Why has Religion got a philosophy?

Answer 1

In The Problem of Pain C.S. Lewis points out that there are non-moral religions (e.g., paganism) and non-religious moralities (e.g., stoicism), but they're not very popular.

Answer 2

You don't have to be religious to have morals. Morality is something we are born with. Some people turn to religion to help them to choose their morals and understand them. Some amoral religions cause people to go against their personal morals.

So really morals have nothing to do with religion, most of the time, but occasionally they do.

Answer 3

To suggest that only followers of a particular religion have morals is ridiculous. As an atheist I can say I don't break the ten commandments. I am not out stealing and killing people, or coveting etc.

Answer 4

Religion tells us what moral maxims we ought live by, about human nature (ie. humans born with sinful nature), what actions or inactions are moral or immoral (sins), what priorities and character we as moral agents must have. Religion may have different have different answers than that of moral philosophies. But moral philosophies by no means coincide with each other (ie. utilitarianism is very different from deontological moral theory).

Answer 5

I think Love Your Neighbor As Yourself could be billed as a philosophy. And it's Jesus' 2nd most important law. So, living by a philosophy is living by a faith. If your philosophy is: there is no god, no after-life, so I must fight for human rights as their suffering is the only existence they will know. You have a faith in the belief of no afterlife. Same difference.

Answer 6

If a Christian is supposed to be an exhibitor of Christ-Like behavior, I would hope he or she lives by some sort of moral code! But, Christians don't have a monopoly on moral behavior! They're are a LOT of good people in the world. It is just that they won't be SAVED by their morality and good deeds. I KNOW>>>GO AHEAD AND GIVE ME THUMBS DOWN!!!!!!!!!!

Answer 7

It really depends on your definition of "moral".

If you mean that being moral means never having done anything wrong, then NO body is moral.

If, however, you mean you have a higher standard of conduct in which you think everyone should be treated as equals, then - again - NO body is moral.

Please, before you jump to conclusions, let me explain.

If somebody were to say to me that they were moral, I would ask them a few questions.

First, have you ever told a lie?
Next, have you ever taken anything that wasn't rightfully yours to take?
Third, have you ever looked at another person with sexual desires? (Jesus said that lusting after someone makes you guilty of adultery in your heart).
Finally (I could ask several more, but I'll stop with this one) have you ever been so angry at someone you hated them or wished them ill will? (Because God looks at the heart, Jesus said that God sees murder)

So, if like me, you had to answer "yes" to these 4 questions (and in all honesty, I believe every adult on the face of this planet would have to say "yes"), then that makes you a lying, thieving, adulterous murderer!

How is THAT being moral?

But that's not the end of it all.

If you have ever told a lie, I would then have to ask if you like it when others lie to you? If you're like me, you would answer "no", but that means you have a double standard, which is the definition of hypocracy!

Again, if you have ever taken anything that wasn't rightfully yours to take, I would have to ask if you mind if others rob YOUR stuff? I think I can safely say that if you are honest about it, you would say "no". Again, a double standard of hypocracy.

So, you would be a lying, thieving, adulterous, murderous hypocrite, and that is NOT being moral.

Now, how does GOD (not religion) fit with that? God came to earth as Jesus, the Son of God, and having never sinned, He died to pay the penalty for OUR sins (like what I mentioned above. Refer to the list of 10 Commandments for more sins.).

The Bible says that "He who knew no sin became sin for us, so that we can be made righteous before God" - He traded places with us.

So, when we confess and renounce our lifestyle of sin (selfishness, basically), ask God's forgiveness, and allow Jesus to be the Lord (boss) of our lives, then God imputes, or counts us as righteous, even though we aren't in and of ourselves.

God actually forgives us, and cleanses us from ALL our unrighteous sins, and adopts us into His Forever Family, and begins to remake us from the inside out.

By trusting in Jesus, God allows Jesus' righteousness to count on our behalf, as long as we are striving to obey Him, just as God allows our sins to be laid on Jesus.

So, when we believe in God, when we put our trust in Jesus, we BECOME moral. It's a process, and we slip up occasionally, but "If we DO sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ our Lord."

Answer 8

Religion is man made.

Read the Holy Bible for the facts.

Answer 9

imagine theres no heaven no religion too

Answer 10

Nothing. Most religions are amoral, by definition.