Is Religion Necessary for Morality?


Is morality dependent upon the existence of any gods? There is no clear reason why we should believe such a thing. If we assume the existence of a god, even a god who has many of the traditional qualities of classical, philosophical theism, there are no particular moral values which we can derive from that premise.

Not even the quality of omnibenevolence on the part of such a god allows us to conclude that we should not kill, steal, or lie. To see how, just consider the Ten Commandments and ask yourself which, if any, necessarily follow solely from the premise that such a god exists and has revealed itself to humanity. The mere fact that a god desires what is good for us does not mean that we are obligated to do what is best and what is right.

Moreover, it should be readily apparent that whatever sort of god exists and whatever this god wants, it is entirely possible that religious leaders who claim to represent this god\'s interests could easily graft any number of moral standards onto a religion centered around this god. These morals would be completely independent of this god because they were created by human beings for their own purposes.

This is not to say that such added moral standards are therefore bad; as a matter of fact, human-created standards could be exactly what humanity needs in order for society to work. However, that doesn\'t mean that they stem from God. There huge numbers of moral standards which have supposedly come from gods - some are good and some are bad, but many are mutually contradictory.

Even within the religious tradition of Christianity alone there are many incompatible ethical principles. Christianity has been used to support and oppose slavery; to support and oppose wars; to support and oppose the divine right of kings. They cannot all have come from a single god - and that guarantees that at least some (if not all) of been created by humans and merely attributed to gods.

The point is, we must acknowledge that the mere existence of a god does not automatically entail any particular moral standards - or even that this god has moral requirements for us - and that there is nothing that prevents religious leaders from attaching moral standards to a pre-existing belief in God.

For many atheists, that means that only we humans are left as the source for moral standards. Some disagree and believe that objective moral facts do exist, but I have difficulty in seeing how moral standards might continue on in the universe if humans and all other sentient life were to disappear.

We can\'t look outside for answers about what is wrong and what is right; instead we must look to our own relationships to determine how we are to act, both as individuals and as a species. The standards we develop may at times be helpful in those goal and, at other times, they may be harmful. But for good or for ill, the responsibility is always ours and ours alone.

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http://atheism.about.com/od/aboutreligion/a/MoralityDemoc_2.htm