The relationship between religion and morality Flashcards Preview

A level Religious Studies. > The relationship between religion and morality > Flashcards

Flashcards in The relationship between religion and morality Deck (16)
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1
Q

What are the three options regarding the relationship?

A
  • Religion and morality are dependent on each other.
  • Religion and morality are independent - they can both exist separately.
  • Religion is opposed to morality - religion and morality exist separately but religion leads to immorality.
2
Q

What is the Euthyphro dilemma?

A
  • The greatest challenge to the relationship between religion and morality was posed by Plato in the Euthyphro dilemma in Phaedo:
    ‘do the gods love that which is holy, or is it holy because it is loved by the gods’.
  • Does God command something because it is good or is that thing existing as something separate from God?
  • Is that something good because God commands it?
3
Q

When do the issues arise?

A

The issues arise when God’s commands contradict human morality.

4
Q

What is Divine Command Ethics?

A

The ethical theory that it is right to follow the commands of God. The sacred texts provide moral standards, such as the 10 commands found in the Bible.

5
Q

What does the theory argue?

A
  • God decides what is right and wrong.
  • Human reason has no authority.
  • Humans must accept God’s teachings.
  • God is the only source of moral guidance.
  • Those who fail to obey God will be punished.
  • ‘sin is disobedience to the commands of God; virture is obedience to them’ - Grayling.
6
Q

What are the clear problems with this view?

A
  • If humans obey God’s moral commands simply because they fear punishment, they are acting out of self preservation rather than morality.
  • Kant said fear of punishment should not be a motivating factor for morality and moral goodness.
  • To be morally good means doing what God commands, we have no choice to decide what is right or wrong.
  • How can we be sure that God’s commands are morally right?
  • Do those who fully obey God’s moral commands get an afterlife?
7
Q

Analysis

A
  • Divine Command Ethics encourages people to be good because they fear hell and want to go to heaven. This is not true morally, because good acts should be done because it is recognised as the right way to behave, not out of a selfish desire for reward.
  • Kant argued that heaven and hell should never motivate a person’s actions. He argued that people should follow the moral law because they have recognised through reason that it is their duty to do so.
8
Q

What does Robert Adams argue?

A
  • Morally good things are objectively good and morally bad things are objectively bad.
9
Q

What does Kant’s moral argument for the existence of God argue?

A

Kant’s moral argument for the existence of God claims that we could not know right from wrong were God not to exist. Therefore, moral arguments for the existence of God want to establish three things:

  • that morality exists.
  • that God exists.
  • that the existence of God explains the existence of morality.
10
Q

What does Kant argue?

A
  • The existence of God is the only reason to be moral.
  • God is needed if we are to achieve the ultimate aim of morality.
  • All humans have a duty to seek the highest form of good.
  • Moral perfection will never be achieved in this life.
  • Humans will need an afterlife to achieve the summum bonum.
  • Therefore, God must exist in order to provide an afterlife and allow humanity to reach moral perfection.
  • The existence of God is neccessary to achieve the goal of morality.
11
Q

Autonomy and Heteronomy.

A
  • Kant held that morality requires autonomy.

- To be autonomous is to be responsible for one’s actions.

12
Q

The Summum Bonum.

A
  • So if reason grounds morality, what need is there for God?
  • Kant explicitly rules out acting morally for one’s own benefit.
  • Even if doing the right thing is not what is best for you, Kant still thinks you should do it anyway.
13
Q

Analysis of the Summum Bonum.

A
  • Why must the Summum Bonum be achieveable in reality?
  • Kant holds that ‘ought implies can’ but this is not neccessarily the case.
  • There may be instances where we ought to do something even if it cannot happen.
14
Q

Theonomy.

A
  • A small number of Conservative Christians in the USA argue that all elements of society should be brought under the control of Old Testament Law.
  • Those who adopt this position argue that morality is wholly dependent on the rules ordained by God.
15
Q

The Westboro Baptist Church

A
  • The WBC, based in Kansas, uses a range of shock tactics that many find deeply offensive in order to spread what they believe to be the word of the Lord.
16
Q

Analysis of the Westboro Baptist Church.

A
  • Philosophically, for the view to be acceptable one must accept not only the existence of God but also the literal truth of the Bible.
  • Furthermore, one must also be committed to the view that religion should be the sole arbiter of all aspects of legal, political and social life.
  • Many Christians would be strongly opposed to any such idea.
  • It is perhaps unsurprising then that the position is considered to be on the furthest fringes of Christian thought.
  • Nevertheless, an anti-theist may take the very existence of such views as evidence for their claim that religious belief can, in and of itself, be dangerous.