An Interesting Writing I Came Upon Religion Essay

But in the end, there must exist a separation of the private and public life in society. I concur with Devlin that government not ought to impose full-blown morality, rather it ought to eliminate intolerable morality (Devlin, Lecture number 10). Furthermore, under a theory of a natural law, I believe there exists moral truths that prescribe principled and unwavering standards for morality, and that these standards ought to be made law. As Thomas Aquinas claimed, “an unjust law is no law at all” (Aquinas, Summa Theologica). Hence, government ought to enforce morality based on principles and standards of morality that no logical argument could be made against, such as the immorality of slavery. Not the idea of collective morality derived from the general will that Devlin subscribes too. However, I will admit that not all moral questions are as clear of moral questions as that of slavery, or murder. In such cases, man with his ability to reason is the appropriate authority. For regardless, morality is often a private matter and privacy as Devlin ironically claims ought to be respected. Thus, preserving the separation of the public and private life.

Religious ethicists have had a difficult time with discussing issues in regards to moral and political concern. One area of great concern is issues that arise within religious traditions. An example of a concerning issue that challenges religious ethicists is violence that is justified using Islamic sources. Two individuals that share their ideas on this concern are John Kelsay and Irene Oh. While both have their own reasons that they discuss, I will be discussing examples from Oh and the sorts of religious reasons that she uses. Following that, I will discuss how I would assess the reasoning given by Oh in said examples by referring to the proposal Stout makes about decision making and how all sides and views should be heard before a

Historically, theologians and philosophers have struggled to agree on the ideas of human freedom. This struggle seems to stem from the debate over faith vs. reason, or the internal and external sources that lead to human thought and understanding, through which free will is then interpreted and carried out by means of the will. A hidden and constant strive for spiritual enlightenment has always been embedded within humans since the beginning of the Fall. Through this natural drive of pursuing spiritual enlightenment comes the creation of the road to which it leads. Throughout most of time, religion has taken the reigns of showing humans the road to salvation, externally, by means of scripture, which requires faith. Yet in the past, there have been times when the powers of evil have inevitably hijacked religion, turning those who have witnessed or experienced this treachery against external values based on faith, but rather internally based values by means of philosophical thought and reasoning through God’s gift of grace.

Her defense was that she acted according to the law of that time and had not committed any crime. Hart agrees with her defense, saying that we should now applaud ourselves for punishing her for her ‘immoral actions’ because she adhered to the laws of her time, and was at that time not doing anything wrong. Contradicting his view is Radbrunch’s, who argued that extreme injustice is no law, meaning that a particular social standard can lose its legal validity when it is extremely unjust.

Judaism’s and Catholicism’s legal process are alike in many different ways. For example, although rabbinic responsa and papal decretals seem completely different in definition, they share common characteristics. Responsa is defined as the “answers to questions submitted by someone having communal authority to someone having greater communal authority” (“Law and religion in Judaism”, 46) The community asks questions regarding law, and the rabbis, an authoritative source, reply with a binding answer. On the other hand, papal decretals are laws and rules issued by the pope. The denotation of these processes sound completely different, but their similarity lies in the nature of papal decretals. The majority of

Imagine you are at church on Sunday morning praying, when all of a sudden the cops pull up. The cops demand to come into the church and take all the people that are praying. The cops grab you by the arm, you have no choice but to go with them. You ask the cop why are you being arrested the cop replies, “You are not supposed to be following this religion.”

In this reading, Sullivan comments on the confusion around definitions of religion, and critiques the way in which religion is handled in legal settings. Sullivan particularly comments on the issue of who should define religion. Should it be decided subjectively by the individual, or should there be an objective decision but a religious authority?

Right actions are right, not because of their relationship to human flourishing but because God has freely commanded them (2003a, 338). On the other hand, Ingham argues that there is the extremely delicate balance between reason and faith in Scotus’s ethical perspective, since to lose one would result in an over-emphasis upon the supernatural and to lose the other would result in moralism. The harmony between nature and grace, reason and faith does not destroy the autonomy of an ethical theory, it simply places it within a context (1989, 254). The separation of the first and second table in the Decalogue affects how we can comprehend the morally good, bad and obligation. To Hare, it is possible to make two claims together. Namely, that we can know moral goodness by reason since it fulfills our nature, and, on the other hand, that what makes something obligatory is that God has prescribed it to us as opposed to other fitting routes that God could also have prescribed. Whatever fulfils our nature and takes us towards our final end is good, we might say, but only what God chooses from all these good things is obligatory (2007,

Justice has been misperceived to go hand and hand with rules in which a society must conform to, mostly in due part to the enlightenment era. In the case with the Romans, the laws they established, especially early on, dealing with the spread of Christianity has been interpreted with a sense of disgust for the unfair treatment targeted towards Christians, and later on to those of other faiths. However, I argue that, Roman law, when concerning religion, was used to strengthen the identity of what it meant to be Roman. Furthermore, as Rome, the political institution, was beginning to decay, as an act of acclamation, the formulation of Roman Laws allowed Christianity to be a main means of connection to what it meant to identify as Roman. Utilizing various primary sources, it is evident that faith had been gradually accepted as the dominant form of unity and law, beginning with Emperor Diocletian to Emperor Theodosia, even among emperors, the Catholic faith had shown that all men were under God, and under God they were all Roman.

Man-made laws appear to have been in place for thousands of years, with the original purpose of the laws being to satisfy the wishes of a higher power- God. Due to the fact that laws were based off of religious scriptures, there was a clear guidance for lawmakers as to which acts should be classed as illegal. As time has progressed, and the role of religion in laws declined, there have been questions asked as to how the lawmakers are able to draw a distinction between acts which are permissible, and those which are impermissible.

A religion such as Christianity has rules and guidelines that are made by the Church using teachings and bible scriptures so that Christians can live a moral life to achieve an afterlife. An example of this is the Ten Commandments that was given to Moses which contain laws such as ‘thy shall not steal’ and ‘thy shall not kill’. These laws were giving to Moses so that people would do the right and good things. Secular principles such as Utilitarianism and laws made by the government for non-religious people to use as guidance to outline the right and wrong. Within this essay, I will examine how religion is a part of the

There has been a long drawn out debate on whether CSR should be catered for by law or one that should be left to individuals and organisations’ notion of morality. Law, a coercive order, seeks to bring about a specific mode of human conduct by force, whereas morality which is a persuasive system appeals to the conscience of the individual required. A rule is a one of morality if by common practice of the community, it applies only to the conscience of the addressee for ultimate compliance, but a rule is a one of law if by the common practice of the community it will eventually be enforced by a power external to the addressee, i.e. the state or community. The extent to which law can be used to enforce morals has been the subject of expression in some decided cases. In England, Lord Denning in Shaw v D.P.P. (1962) A.C P.220 advocated the view that the society reserves the right to use criminal law to preserve morality in the same way as the society uses criminal law to preserve anything it considers essential for its survival . Prof Hart in Knuller v. D.P.P. (1973) A.C. P.435, on his part suggested that that it was wrong to enforce morality through the criminal law without first ensuring that failure to do so will endanger the social fabrics . Their divergent views aside, both writers agree that moral values are very important to the society and that there is need for law to uphold some moral position in the society

The Catholic Church follows this practice today in remembrance of the abuse of the first Christians, and speaks the same words as a reminder of our own duty to follow Christ wherever he may lead us—even into martyrdom. Examples like these inspire the tepid and challenge the complacent. But no religion can flourish, nor can it provide invaluable sustenance in the form of spiritual nourishment, if it is constantly and consistently oppressed. Religious freedom is essential to the existence of the Catholic Church and any other church for it to perform its proper and full function; no faith can lead individuals to the ultimate wellspring of life—God—without the ability to freely expand and come to such individuals. And even more than that, religious freedom brings, to every nation that protects it, an invaluable character and people that allow a nation to thrive. Religious Freedom diversifies societies, making them more culturally diverse, and thus more economically and politically adaptable and sustainable; substantiates a given nation’s moral base, which will prevent cultural regression and degeneration; and encourages individuals to pursue lives of sainthood and righteousness that would otherwise be discouraged and disdained by an oppressive state.

Throughout my life I have been lost and confused when it comes down to one aspect of life, religion. I felt out of place in scripture class freshman year because I knew close to nothing about Catholicism and about who God is. Up until my time at Brophy, I did not even really consider religion to be a part of my life. I rarely thought about God and the only times I did were times that were selfish and when I thought I needed help. Like before a big game I would ask him to help me get a hit, or crossing my fingers when it was the final play of a game and hoping God would help. Looking back that’s because I did not truly know who God is, and I’m not saying I do now, but I for sure have a greater understanding through my experience and research. In chapter two I explored who God is and was able to find a good connection of who God is through the words of Reverend Doctor William Barry. Barry brings up the idea of how God and is like our parents in a way how they provide us with comfort and are always there when we need them. This I agree with because I believe that the best way that I have encountered God through my time at Brophy has been through the actions with others, not only my parents, but I have been reinforced that God can be found in simple ways. In my first experience with getting my dog Harper I talked about how that was one of the only strong evidences that I have of God working in my life. And this is most likely because I feel that God was acting as a parent to me

sins to a priest and attend mass weekly. Jewish societies will gather their whole families