Do most people's morals really come from religion?

Question

I see what this claim is trying to say: even if you're an atheist, you almost certainly grew up in a culture infused with religion, and this will almost certainly affect your worldview. But then this would predict that the moral views of most non-religious Europeans would be very Christian. But they're really not. I think this claim forgets that religion is only one element in a culture, and sometimes its influence has become quite small.

Answer 1

Culture, social group and individual (family) conscience have the biggest part don't you think?

Answer 2

I think most people behave the way they feel like behaving. I mean "feel" in the broader sense to include feelings of conscience, remorse, regret, fear, greed, respect, pride, etc. From our infancy, society uses our human need for acceptance and praise to train our behavior. By the time we're adults, we have this unfocused set of feelings that channels our behavior. It's like a training a rat but much more sophisticated.

We would normally rebel against such training when we realize what has happened. A society then needs to be able to point to a higher moral authority, i.e. God, to be the foundation behind the behavior training. Europe is now coasting on feelings that are related to traditions. America doesn't have much in the way of traditions. Almost any foundation works in good times.

Answer 3

I don't think so. There is natural law and then God's law. The motivation is different between the two.

In most societies, murder would be wrong because you yourself do not want to be murdered. So there is a level of "do unto others as you would have them do unto you" but the world view would add...unless they do something to you, then retaliate.

God (religion) takes the natural law to a higher place. It calls us to be above that law, turn the other cheek, if a man asks for your coat give him your shirt as well, love you neighbor as yourself...etc. This adds an element of sacrifice for the glory of God which is obviously not part of the natural law.

So, atheists and secularist can certainly have morals. They're motivation is survival and their own prosperity. The Christian motivation is a love for Christ and a desire to be obedient to his will.

Answer 4

I think you're right. I think a lot of the "Morality" that religions preach, and if you've ever read their Holy books, you'd know what I mean, would send the average person running, screaming, away from them, if they knew.
Society, as you say, is to blame, if blaming is the right word for it. I don't think a minority organisation like the church can lay claim to being "the keepers of the truth", if that were so, we'd all be hanged for witchcraft, for using the Internet.

Answer 5

Morals have nothing to do with any religion. They are a natural thing and have evolved in humans and other species as they are in general terms good for survival. In fact some of the so called morals devised by some religions are in themselves highly immoral

Answer 6

Not with me.
I have a lot of self -disciplne most believers don't have. I guess it's the same with all atheists.
The most important thing about morality though, is how you were brought up, your upbringing, so to speak.
....and most christians are bad parents, forcing their religion down their children's throats.
My dad's an atheist, and he has 4 children into different religions, except me in his footsteps.
I dare to say, we're all as moral as we can get due to his just upbringing.

Answer 7

Religion and philosophy are responsible for what we know as our ethical and moral standards.

It is the decline in practice of both these pursuits that has seen the rapid creation of 'causes'. For example, the debate on abortion is just as rigorously examined by pressure groups as it is by the church.

Philosophers have almost disappeared in any natural form and now exist in the main as politicians and stand up comedians. Their influence is consequentially limited.

Answer 8

I had a friend who was Pegan (I think like Druid), and he told me their code was simply "Harm not, and do what you will". I'd never really been wild about Peganism, but this made good sense to me. So, I think, ethically, this is what I would demand of people.

Answer 9

Morals come from common sense. Think about it, there were morals before a man made up a god.

Answer 10

To make it simple.
Look at the desk-top.
The desk-top must have the DOS for it to function.
What happen when the DOS is not install?
Will it work?
Now look at living human kind.
Did we install the DOS?
What did we download as software for our little ones?
Without the DOS?
Will the software works?
What happen if the software is all ghostly stories with science and mathematics?
Ever wonder where did all the dead Mummies risen up from the graveyards of failures and horrors of the past all came from as cheap-skate glory of national identity?
Luke 9.55-56
Ever wonder who mess up human lives in kicking the butts of their own little ones, own children, own generation and children of all tribes of different community living in misery with total loss of IQ and our creator's universal gifts of life vital for the survival and advancement of living human kind in kicking the butts of God.
Without being aware of the mess created in own backyards as cheap-skate glory of national identity.
When living human kind do not even know how to create living human kind to be the Son of God without our creator's universal gifts of life.
Luke 6.39-40,41-45,46-49
What do you think?