Religion and Morality

In Plato’s Euthyphro, we read about how Socrates is asking Euthyphro of piety and about the situation he is in. Euthyphro must judge a murder, and to the surprise of the audience, the murder was his father. As the scene goes on, Socrates keeps asking what Euthyphro means by piety. In the end, Euthyphro finally answers that piety is what the God’s love or demand. In The Ethical Life, they modify the question asked by Socrates to “Is an action morally right because God commands it, or does God command an action because it is right?”. This question brings up many other questions.

"Consider this: Is the pious being loved by the gods because it is pious, or is it pious because it is being loved by the gods?" (10a)

The Tripitaka provides direction for people on topics that are morally grey. Through the Buddhist history, the link between politics and religion has been great as many of the political rulers have also been the religious leaders. For instance, Dalai Lamas of Tibet connects religion and politics by ruling the political entity through his religious Buddhist beliefs. In each of these religions there is insight for understanding the society in which it exists, as well as in the comparison of these religions and their relationships with morality in society. By examining these three examples, Islamic culture, Christian economics and Buddhist politics, it is apparent how each of the religions are intricately connected with society. Secondly, many religious institutions consider themselves to be privileged arbiters of morals and to have expertise in matters of religion and morality. Many people today believe this to be true, and many are still in denial. The teachings about moral values in religious institutions are continually present in society, which then influences the beliefs of people, parents, on morality. For example, “many parents who are not themselves religious nevertheless consider that the education of their children should include some moral instruction based on religious traditions encouraged by religious institutions of the society in which they live ” (Rand,

“Is the pious being loved by the gods because it is pious, or is it pious because it is being loved by the gods?”

The divine command theory is put forth for people who believe in God. The theory implies that good actions are morally worthy as a result of their being commanded by God. God, for these individuals, include people from the Christian, Jewish, and Muslim faith. Individuals, because of these propositions, believe that it is their moral obligation to abide to God 's commands; which is, what is morally right is what God desires. This theory states the idea of objectivity between what’s right and wrong. If God makes

Religion and morality have been seen as inseparable since the advent of Western thought (http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/religion-morality/) - religion's fundamental characters being frequently ethical in nature, and morality often viewed as a derivative of religion. However, the relationship is not as clear cut as many people would like you to believe. A very old and important dilemma facing this relationship is the Euthyphro dilemma, discussed in Plato’s Euthyphro. In it, Socrates and Euthyphro argue about the nature of morality outside of a court. Socrates is being prosecuted for impiety, while Euthyphro is charging his father with murder. Although charging your father, even for murder, is frowned upon in Ancient Greek culture,

In Plato's dialogue, 'Euthyphro', Socrates presents Euthyphro with a choice: `Is what is pious loved by the gods because it is pious, or is it pious because it is loved [by the gods]?'

The link between morality and human nature has been a progressive reoccurring theme since ancient times (Prinz, 2008). Moral development is a characteristic of a person’s general development that transpires over the course of a lifetime. Moral development is derived by a wide variety of cultural and demographic factors that appear to influence morally relevant actions. Turiel (2006) defined morality as an individuals “prescriptive judgments of justice, rights, and welfare pertaining to how people ought to relate to each other.” Individuals’ moral judgments are frequently considered to be a product of culturally specific controls that provide a framework for behavioral motivations that are sensitive to the effects of gender, education, religion and politics (Banerjee, Huebner & Hauser, 2010). While several approaches have been utilized to examine the interaction of multivariate contributors to fundamental moral differences such as: disputes about family life, sexuality, social fairness, and so on, research has suggested that ideological considerations have provided a potent and diverse explanation for the polarization of contrasting views (Weber & Federico, 2013).

Another contributor to defining morality can be found within religion, or an undesirable agenda

In Plato’s Euthyphro, Socrates and Euthyphro had a conversation about piety. During the conversation, Socrates raised a question which was a challenge to the Euthyphro’s definition of piety. Also, this question is a challenge to the theists’ view of divine command theory. I agree with the arbitrariness objection which succeeds giving a good reason to theists to reject the divine command theory. This objection indicates that the arbitrariness of God’s commands contradicts to the fundamental attribute of God, and God’s commands are unable to make an act morally good or bad.

All throughout human life there has been the concept of good and evil. The way people interpret what is good and what is evil has evolved over time. These interpretations are derived through an individual's own process of thoughts. Through those thought processes people naturally form judgements on things, most of the time without even realizing it. In the essay “Morality and Religion” by Iris Murdoch, she talks about the morals in religion and how in the type of religion someone is has an impact on the person's morals, but even without any type of religion a person can still have morals.

The moral viewing capacity is based on the details the current age has been given about the situation and the complexity of the dispute. How one views another’s morals, is based solely on one’s personal experiences in a similar situation. One’s religion can impact not only their actions, but also their morals. The moral impact of religion has been a substantial part of culture dating back to the start of mankind.

Any beneficial conversations about morality that occur between those who practice religion and those who do not, or those with different religions, must incorporate a common set of ethical concepts and a shared procedure for resolving issues and making judgments, all of which ethics provides. It is also understood that in these conversations moral positions on the issues

As Nietzsche points out, within society there is a tendency to conflate religious standards with morality. In fact, it is difficult to discuss morality at all without running into issues that appear to be religious by their nature, but which, upon reflection, do not need to be put under that blanket. According to Nietzsche, we tend to mix religion and morality together because that is how we developed morality from the beginning of humanity. In fact, “Nietzsche believes that all

Religion tends to derive preferred lifestyles, ethics and morality from the ideas of human nature. Scholars have studied religions and categorized them into three main categories. These categories include the indigenous religions, transcultural as well as the international faiths.