Classical theism provides a depiction of a God that has three main attributes; omnibenevolent, omnipotent and omniscient. A subject that conveys problems for classical theists is that of evil and suffering. It is understood that suffering is a direct consequence of evil. This evil leads to a lot of religious people to question their faith, especially when it comes to natural evil. These issues arise due to the question; if God is all knowing and all loving, should He not then stop suffering from happening?
However, if this link between religion and morality is criticised, then there are sufficient grounds for secularist and atheistic ways of life. Why is religion needed when it is not the source of moral guidance? Two famous critiques of the link between religion and morality are the Euthyphro dilemma and the many critiques od Richard Dawkins against religion. Both essentially come to the same conclusion; that we do not need God to be good. The basic concept of religion and morality, especially divine command theory, is very simple: what God commands is good, therefore only do that.
Many people believe that morality is dependent is religion and morality is based on the religious scholars and holy books. There is no point in morality of God hadn’t set the moral values in the first place. However, some also say that humans only behave morally because they’re scared of God and any punishment to follow. There are several approaches that are taken when attempting to work out the relationship between religion and morality. ‘Is what is pious loved by the gods because it is pious, or is it pious because it is loved?’ In Plato’s Euthyphro dilemma, Plato is asking ‘is x good because God loves it or does God love x because x is good?’ An example of this is murder; is murder wrong because God says it is or is murder wrong because it is wrong morally?
The relationship between a theistic God (considering there is one) and morality cannot be explained in simply a few sentences. One may immediately come to the conclusion that God decides what is moral and immoral. This is known as Divine Command Theory which says that morality is dependent on God’s commands. However, this gives rise to the other side that says an action is moral because God approves of it. This is known as the Autonomy thesis which says that morality is not dependent on God’s commands.
Thus, he believes there is no reason why should you live a moral life rather than for one's self. Fidley asks Seltzer one last question, “what motivation for adopting the moral point of view can you possibly offer without a belief in God and immorality?” which leads us to this quote, “When religion tells us that there is nothing more we can say about morality than that we can’t see the reasons for it, but do it if you know what’s good for you, then I do condemn it. We can do better than that. We can become moral grown-ups. And if there were a God, surely he would approve”.
This ethical theory aligns itself with a Christian worldview, arguing that an action is good only if the principle behind the action is moral law (Giersson and Holmgren, 2000). In other words, actions should only be done in accordance with God’s will. For instance, clearly stating how outliers are addressed when drawing conclusions based on the statistical analysis is ethical in that it is the right thing to do so that the probability of misinterpretation is minimized. Additionally, Kantian ethics also require autonomy, which is often required in relationship to dealing with clients and the subjects from whom data is collected (Tittle, 2000). Again, this ties back to the Christian worldview of loving ones neighbor.
He will be judged by those who know him in the real world, and if a higher power exists, will also be judged in the spiritual world as well. An unethical action performed by a man with a religious belief is the most unlikely event that would occur out of the four possible scenarios because he will most likely not place himself in a situation where he needs to make a decision that could potentially be considered unethical. If this situation were to occur, he could simply confess his sins and be forgiven on the spot, avoiding judgment once the confession is made in full and pity is recognized in self. “It seems that morality and religion are perceived as separate realms in order to accomplish the teleological suspension.” -The Teleological Suspension of the Ethical by Dr. C. Matthew McMahon Let’s think about why a religious man committing an unethical deed is deemed justified in the name of God. Why does he get a special treatment because of his beliefs?
However, it appears that the shift in focus can drastically change the interpretations in the Bible. Ultimately, fundamentalists accept as true the inerrancy of the Bible as rationale. However, Wesleyans tend to take away that “the proof of the gospel resides primarily in its being lived, in transformed life, not in logic and argumentation.” Two entirely different understandings of the same Bible, exemplifies another key contrast among fundamentalists and
However, per Webb, if we are, then it is a very ultra-soft patriarchy. Except for some light disagreements with some of his criteria selections, I agree overall with Webb that the spirit of the Scripture should definitely play a part in how we stand on certain issues in today’s culture. It’s imperative that we look behind the static words on the page, so to speak, and look at the context of the situation to determine what God is trying to tell us. Webb does a fairly good job of making us understand this. One may not agree with his methods of choosing the criteria, but you can’t disagree with his assessment that the spirit of what is trying to be said in Scripture should rule the
To secure their religious beliefs people will block out, or create a barrier to protect themselves from feelings or emotions they deem as evil. A society in general may unknowingly or intentionally create limitations to religion. These limitations can be caused by separating ourselves from those things which are created through the power of God. The erosion of faith is main facet of the short story “The Young Goodman Brown” and the poem “God’s