Does Morality Need Religion

Does Morality Needs Religion?
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Does Morality Needs Religion?
Introduction
Some philosophers have presented their opinions in dispute that the absence of God in our daily lives, it would be difficult to differentiate between right and wrong and that the society will lack the knowledge of morality. The society cannot do without religion and that has faced a lot of criticism from romanticizing religion; arguing that the society needs myths that help in identifying with fellow beings to help the society realize the importance of compassion that is not often regarded in our rational world (Hoashi, 1932). It is quite unfortunate since most of the statistics does not support the proponents of the moral value of holy traditions. Religion and Morality are issues of global concerns since the most violent, intolerable and unstable countries that have the poor human rights seem to be very spiritual while those that are considered to be least religious tend to perform better when it to comes to the issues of social and the development of morality (Bruce, 1996).
The essay explores facts and evidence that we do not need religion for social morals. The following are some of the facts and evidence to prove that we have social morals without necessarily embracing religion as a tool to achieve moral values.
Religious doctrines have been formulated specifically for behavior control in mind. Origen that happened to be one of the individuals who came up with the idea of church among the Christian families argued that the actual terror of the hell may be false and they were just being used to scare people so that they can develop good morals within the society.

They called it improving the youth (Hoashi, 1932). We cannot term dogmatic and legalistic behaviors as morals and simply obeying rules, dogmatic answers to moral questions do not indicate morality in a person (Pettit, 1999). The aspect of morality requires choice and relying on predefined rules, or textbooks of morality do not make one to act as a moral person. Obeying the regulations since you think you should do so is not the same as making a moral choice.
A person will always do the correct thing in the society in order to avoid being caught in the wrong part of the law and such a person can easily avoid troubles and conflicts even if in his conscience the right thing is not good. A person’s choice is dependent on the situation he finds himself in or even the measures. And one’s principles can be useful to the people that the person socializes with (Pettit, 1999). What most people call the cultural organization losses meaning in the social order as people will obey the rules without scrutinizing their values. Some people will also keep their values at the expense of their spiritual viewpoint.
The Social and Moral Index
Those countries found towards the top of the social and moral index can be said to be giving a good example and leading the society of humankind into a humane, bright and free future. The best country in the world is determined by an index of morality, conscience, and good life (Nash, 2001). Current indicators explain that those countries that can be considered less religious are at the top. With high level of religion, countries suffers different problems as they are required to address issues to do with tolerance to the minority, problems of balancing gender, basic human rights, and religion freedoms. The practical facts do not support the spreading idea of religion being of benefit when it comes to the values of morality to the society.
Religious Belief arrangements and Morals
Utilitarianism theory explains that some of the religions especially Judaism were working since they believed that all the laws were to be outsourced from divinity. Nevertheless, some other societies for example the Greeks and the Romans believed that their laws had originally been made, and they whatever they do are for amending the rules. They were not afraid to accept that those who made the original laws might have made bad laws (‘Rationality and religion: does faith need reason?’, 1998). It is not wrong if the beliefs behind the moral behaviors do not have transcendental power. The Fight for the rights of human beings, which can be considered as the solution to the national and cultural abuse to the minorities is mostly effected by organizations such as the United Nations but then such organizations are under condemnation by the religious organizations in those countries (Nash, 2001).
If a person only behaves well because he or she fears the wrath of the hell and expects some rewards in heaven then the fundamental truth can be that good people are good despite their believe in God (BAIDINS, 1990). Consequently, bad people are also bad irrespective whether they are religious or forced into doing good. One can easily transform his character as time goes if he can reflect on the errors of what he has been up to. Such people can change how they operate if they are advised and given orders by the straightforward people of their society and by reading some documents that encourage good deeds. It then means that a moral society can be achieved even without the input of the religion (‘Rationality and religion: does faith need reason?’, 1998). The people who use advanced systems always feel that they are adaptable to the society and they feel that they are giving more important values and morals to the society where they don’t feel like they are part of it.
Material Sources of Morality
The initial western lawful system to announce that human rights exist derived the idea from the material judgment, rationality and humanitarianism (Taliaferro & Griffiths, 2003). Since then, human rights have proved to be a useful resource for fighting arbitrary oppression, intolerance and unfair rules. Jack Donnelly, who was a political theorist and specialized in human civil rights, said that the basis of the human rights is the nature of the morals of each and every individual. Also, the international human rights do not rely on any one religion or any philosophical principles. Most of the truths are only dependent on the documentations about human rights only. Most of the rights can be traced from inner dignity that a person possesses (BAIDINS, 1990).
The idea of emphasizing on the nonsectarian and the past cultural root of the rights of human beings is to recognize the fact that they originated from a moral thinking thus they cannot be traced from any ethical philosophies. If secular human rights approach is correct, engenders good moral progress and civility; statistical evidence should accompany it to support and detract from it. (Bruce, 1996). A religion classification of morality presents an unusual importance on the inner thoughts and regards most of the attributes to be positive but then do very little to the society as far as morality is concerned.
Certain people exist in the society whom whenever they want to do something good or when they just want to be considered as good people, they will always include religion as they feel that it is needed in the society. However, those individuals who have chosen to be better people will find their efforts rewarded whether they chose to do it within the religious context or not (Taliaferro & Griffiths, 2003). Those people who have chosen to be better people in the society will always have their efforts being rewarded no matter the framework they used.
Conclusion
From the overwhelming facts, we can conclude that morality does not need religion. Morality is more of individual choice to embrace moral values (Nash, 2001). The presence of the different religious group with different moral principles makes it impossible to have one common book of truth which can be read objectively and accepted by everyone.
References
Hoashi, R. (1932). Does Japan Need Religion?. The Journal Of Religion, 12(1), 50. http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/481126Rationality and religion: does faith need reason?. (1998). Choice Reviews Online, 36(03), 36-1535-36-1535. http://dx.doi.org/10.5860/choice.36-1535Pettit, J. (1999). Book Review: Rationality and Religion: Does Faith Need Reason? Roger Trigg. The Journal Of Religion, 79(4), 684. http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/490529Nash, R. (2001). Does Why Religion Matters Really Matter?. Religion & Education, 28(2), 99-107. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15507394.2001.10012286BAIDINS, A. (1990). Need for religion. Nature, 346(6286), 693-693. http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/346693c0Taliaferro, C., & Griffiths, P. (2003). Philosophy of religion. Malden, MA: Blackwell Pub.