Without religion would people become more, less, or be equally morally corrupt?
Religion permeates every aspect of human life. Human troubles, doubts and questions were answered in the Ancient and Medieval periods by giving religious answers and explanations. The human brain does not give any room for vacuum. There is a question to always ask and an answer to be provided to the human brain.
It has been argued that religion started from fear. Man believes there is a power that is beyond his comprehension and as such, he created religion to answer those questions disturbing him. It is also possible for you to dispute this claim about how religion started but we will both be relying on what we read/told which makes neither of the claims true nor false!
There is a difference between religion and social morality. These two moralities often conflict with one another. It should be noted also that there is apparent conflict among different religions on what is ethical/moral.
The Christian religion, for instance, use 'thou' to proclaim what is morally right from what is not. Examples of such are: thou shall not steal, thou shall not lie, thou shall kill, etc. These are commands and they are things we must obey every time.
Morality in religion serves as the guideline on how members 'must' conduct themselves before the Supreme Being and mostly among fellow human beings.
The question now is how moral would you be without religion? Will you be more, less or equally morally corrupt?
Perhaps, we should start by asking how moral you are with your religion? If you are to judge the situation on ground, do you think we would be better off without the morality religion preaches?
Reality check, the fear of hell and the reward of heaven as painted by most religions are responsible for the 'love' we are experiencing right now. Without religion, which is also premised on the belief in the Supreme Being, the world would probably be in chaos.
The fear of God in most cases determines how we relate with our fellow humans and how we conduct ourselves in the society. It is also true that despite the influence of religion, some people abuse or hide under it to perpetuate 'evil'.
A world free of religion is unthinkable for me. Left for the government, they will have no control over such society because we are fallible. What social morality does is to create merely fear of our freedom being seized. The highest we will get is capital punishment.
Religion however, tells us that such person, if he/she is truly guilty will face another wrath before the Supreme Being. Whether this claim is true or false cannot be ascertained but it creates that sense of belonging and ensures continuity of human existence.
If you ask me, i would say a world without religion will make man more morally corrupt. Although i don't really subscribe to some of its (religion) tenets, but i find it difficult to agree with some scholars (especially the humanists/humanitarians) that a world without religion is more plausible.
What is your take on this topic? Do you see a more or less morally corrupt human being without religion? Your contributions would be highly appreciated.
Thanks for your time. Your boy @smyle the philosopher.
Without religion some will be morally upright. With religion many are corrupt to the teeth. So I think it depends on the individual, not religion.I do not think the law not to commit adultery has been written and read out , yet Joseph flew from Potiphar's wife and said"How can i commit this great badness and actually sin against God"
You have a good point and i also agree with you that it can be 'personal'.
Religion is a man-made fairy tale. The problem is people will do despicable things to defend that nonsense. So yes, we would be far better off without religion. But we do need a global moral code, enshrined in laws and constitutions everywhere, and based on common human decency and science. That can only happen without religion.
I think you have a point! I love the angle you picked this from. Truly religion has its shortcomings just like every other institutions.
Do you think religion itself is 'nonsense' or those practicing it make it so?
The definition of the word "religion" is "relation to the infinite." Yes, we all need an understanding of our relationship with the infinite. That is different from a belief system. We don't need a belief system. We need to be kind. The reason religion is needed is because human community is always evolved under the fear of uncertain or far beyond human intellect which is God. So religion is not a non sense but people's uncontrolled worldly desires and emotions always head into wrong direction, we are now indulged into comparisons between them which is causing the chaos and nothing else.
Yet again, you are right! There is no religion with the idea of a Supreme Being behind it. Thank you so much for your contribution!
Religion was orginally created, as you stated, to explain the unexplainable. What is this huge glowing ball in the sky and why is it at times here at times not? Ah that is because of horus, the sun god. How does lightning work, that shits scary! Zeus throws lightning from the clouds.
Morally, religion(more speciffically christianity) isn't any different from what the judicial system is trying to do. Don't do bad things or you will be punished.
In my eyes religion is a precursor to science. The egyptian religion is based heavily on constellations and they managed to explain the passing of seasons and the progression of the sun based on these constellation, who then became charaters in a story.
Even Jesus christ himself, was originally an explanation for the sun. What is interesting to note is that most sun gods throughout history have near identical back stories. Born from a virgin, 3 kings, east star it all makes sense. The day the sun is born, it lines up with orions belt and and another star, the east star. He speaks of the water bearer who comes after him. That is the constellation aquarius which happens to be the one after pisces( the age jesus represents)
On a more human note, people are people no matter what types of rules and regulations you put on them and they will always do what they deem neccessary in any given situation.
Laws and religous morals simply raise the amount of effort you have to do in order to go against them. A person is unlikely to go about killing people whether religion exists or not, otherwise we would've been extinct long ago, but if he is in a situtation where the thought crosses his mind, he will wiegh his options. It just so happens that not killing people is easier than killing people and that goes for most moral dilemnas with a binary choice.
Wow! Thank you for this great contribution!
You actually consider many possibilities and i agree with the weighing argument or whether to kill or not but it can only be done by a rationally sane person!
We have a lot of superstitions. The good vs. evil is a story. We are bio creatures trying to survive here. All true wisdom/spirituality says the same thing: we are one and respect the world and each other
Many of us have gone about preaching religion,
Forcing the mind of others to know about doctrines and tenneths.
I do believe the world be be a better place when morals are preached.
Religions have being a distraction for as many of us.
I submit
lols! So you are implying that a world without religion is more plausible compare to what we have now? You also think the world will be less morally corrupt without religion? The second question suggests the world is more morally corrupt with religion!
Religion has made us looking for tricks.
Pretence all over .
But religion has been a part of life.
Infact , alot live, dwell and depend on religious beliefs
just to note: "thou" is a word refering to "you, the reader" And is used as a way to make the translation from Latin easyer to make sense of. That word is used in that way in various texts, not just in christian texts.
Religion equated in referance to gouvernment is quite accurate, but in truth, we need neigther. Why is there a seemingly apparent need to have a controlling entity to controll masses of individuals?
You do not need any form fo religion to learn and embody morality. One only need an understanding of what is termed Natural law. Being a system of behaviour in relation to others that can be observed in all forms of life.
Religion is a complex topic in manny ways, for there is manny layers of understanding of what "it" is. It was not purely "invented" by humans, but it have been used by humans to control other humans via theyre beliefs. Religion have some core truths that is highly valued, but only if you are abel to understand its alegorys.
From my understanding, religion as its most commonly understood, is used as a way to control others, and is used to hide sertain understandings that, you could say, is encoded in the alegorical storys.
hmmm i c! You have a point. Some people truly use religion to control others.
On Natural law, i do not think it is a real law in the sense that it is 'natural' because some rational aspects of our brains make it so.
In all, i think you have a good point. Thanks for your time!
The fear of the lord is the beginning of wisdom. Corruption would have gotten no stand if religion is not existing because the havoc that religion has created so far have caused serious injuries to man kind. You can imagine a religion supporting her member to kill fellow human being. Their god does not condemn money rituals to buy positions and chieftaincy. Anyway,may God take control.
Is it religion or the people? We should not mix the two together.
Moralty and Religion... The two are inseparable and strongly interwoven, hence, no room for disconnectivity if we want to live in a peaceful world. Only through religion, "a tool in the Hand of the Almighty" can we best understand and appreciate the value of being morally upright and coexisting in a morally endowed society. This brief comment can only be best understood when we start seeing Religion as a "general way of life" rather than the mere "code of conduct" as perceived by many school of thought.
Religion and morality are two separate things! They have no connection and nothing connects them.
Religion is like a code of conduct. It has what it considers right or wrong. It has tailored ways of worshipping. Every service/worship have patterns and these patterns are always followed to worship the Supreme being.
Perhaps you belong to one of those who say 'Christianity', for instance, is not a religion.
You should try tell us what makes something 'A' a religion and something 'B' a way of life.
I will like to hear from you. Thanks.