Sage-Tips

Is there a difference between religious and secular morality?

Secular ethics are a more mature and reasonable basis for morality. This is so because it is not so absolutist and considers consequences. Religious ethics is so rule bound, similar to Hebrew morality, and non-reasonable, whereas, philosophical or secular ethics is oriented toward results and consequences.

What is secular morality based on?

Secular ethics is a branch of moral philosophy in which ethics is based solely on human faculties such as logic, empathy, reason or moral intuition, and not derived from belief in supernatural revelation or guidance—the source of ethics in many religions.

What is the relationship between morality and religious faith?

Theoretical Assumptions of Western Ethical Theory. To an outside observer, these debates among Western philosophers and theologians concerning the relationship between religion and morality may seem culture-bound.

Does religion enhance one’s moral life is it an essential element of morality?

This finding has now been confirmed in numerous laboratory and field studies. Overall, the results are clear: No matter how we define morality, religious people do not behave more morally than atheists, although they often say (and likely believe) that they do.

Does religion make us more moral?

A new study suggests that religious people aren’t more likely to do good than their nonreligious counterparts. And while they may vehemently disagree with one another at times, liberals and conservatives also tend to be on par when it comes to behaving morally.

Why does secularism portray religion as the other?

As Talal Asad ( 2003) puts it, secularism constructs religion as its “other” in order to create its own sense of internal coherence.

Is there a connection between religion and morality?

Although there is no shortage of lively polemic, scientific investigations of the connection between religion and morality have so far produced mixed results. The interpretive difficulties are exacerbated by imprecise conceptions both of “religion” and “morality.”

Can people be moral without religion or God?

Keywords: cognitive science of religion, moral foundations theory, prosocial behavior, cultural evolution It is simply impossible for people to be moral without religion or God. —Laura Schlessinger (quoted in Zuckerman, 2008)

Do secular societies make us happier?

Research by Zuckerman (2008), for instance, has found that secular societies tend to score better on a range of social indicators, such as levels of social inequality, family breakdown, violent crime, juvenile delinquency, drug abuse, and happiness, than religious societies. The Case Against Secularism