MORALITY- A THEISTIC IDEOLOGY?
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Of all the concepts of human subjectivism or objectivism, Morality is that which religion romances with the most.
Religion and morality have been intertwined for ages that one may think both ideological principles cannot do without each other.
In fact, what has actually kept religion in the limelight for thousands of years is its flirting with morality.
The very first civilization that embraced religion — the Egyptian civilization— harnessed the concept of morality.
All over the world, majority of the religious people are kind, peaceful and show great empathy for other beings because of the moral principles embedded in their religious practices, prompting many to think one cannot be moral without religion.
Many religionists use morality as a tool with which they admonish others to subscribe to their beliefs and subsequently convincing them to become one of theirs.
Today, only few individuals can distinctively discern the subtle incongruities between morality and religion. This is why some people think atheists cannot be good people as they reject the existence of a supreme being who functions as both a dictator and checker of moral scruples.
Some lenient theists feel atheists cannot be as moral as the staunch religious apologist because they lack the understanding of the basic foundations of morality — which are found in their Holy books or preached in their worship centres.
These statements above beg the question; can one be a moralist and not be a religionist?
At this point, three moral principles will be discussed in a bid to elucidate the mental mist this article might have caused hitherto.
1 ETHICAL SUBJECTIVISM.
The Ethical subjectivism illustrates how morality and other concepts it dances with, stems out from the thoughts and perceptions of the individual, putting in consideration every form of life around him or her.
People who subscribe to ethical subjectivism believe morality is a relative concept.
That everything we deem good, evil or otherwise is purely based on the subjective mind.
They think what is right to the individual is what he or she perceives to be right — and to a great extent, not what others think.
One constraint about this moral theory is that it cannot be outrightly defended as being the most rational form of morality to subscribe to because the average mind works greatly with emotions and sentiments.
Subjectivism, most of the time, doesn't allow one to consider the emotional, mental and social welfare of other people.
As I am not the only individual on this planet, I must have to consider the well-being of other inhabitants — hence I most have to do away with the subjective mindset.
For example, some thieves do not see their actions as unjust and immoral as they have stabbed the eyes of their conscience greatly that it has become blind towards empathy, rationality and truth.
If I steal from Mr A who is rich and give to the more impoverished Mr B, isn't that Just and moral enough?
Wouldn't Mr B see me as a good person? And perhaps a moralist?
But what would Mr A think of me?
A question for Robbin Hood, eh?
Therefore, ethical subjectivism when ardently scrutinized, spawns its own flaws.
2 CULTURAL RELATIVISM.
Cultural relativism projects how our cultural values should be that which dictates our moral principles.
As the human mind is highly biased towards making objective decisions with the aim of a common good, some certain principles embedded in our cultural values and practices must dictate how we behave.
All around the world, cultural practices differ; therefore, their ideologies of morality should differ.
Hence, cultural relativism doesn't do much to project the universal concept of morality.
If our cultural practices encourages the act of showing kindness to foreigners, then, you are not moral if you do not entertain or respect foreigners.
If our culture says the killing of twins is right, then, it is moral and justifiable — from the perception of your culture — if you kill your own children because they are twins.
And in its apparent relativity, not all culture were kind or entertained foreigners.
While some cultures encouraged the killing of twins, others abhorred such practice.
Apparently, cultural relativism hasn't really been a defendant of moral universality.
Let's see the third moral theory;
3 DIVINE COMMAND THEORY.
The divine command theory is that which is the most popular and most adhered to of all the three forms apparently.
As religious ideologies pervaded the world, it carried with it the Divine command theory of morality.
This form of morality spells out why everything adjudged to be moral by the supreme being is what must be moral.
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Everything else God condemns is immoral.
The Holy books — Bible, Quran, Torah, etc — passed down to man by the supposedly inspiration of God Himself, have helped robed religionists in the regalia of morality.
The Divine command theory, to some extent, embraces the universal concept of morality, as God in his omnipresence, rules the world and dictates what everyone should subscribe to.
But the Divine command theory, as a moral concept, spawns its own flaws and constraints.
Arguably, since there are no cogent evidences or proofs of the existence of the Creator — the God-figure in his Omnipotence— that rules and dictates what happens in the physical realm from the spiritual realm, one could never be certain that the Divine command theory was proposed by God. Or that it is the perfect moral ideology to adhere to.
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Let's say God or gods exist and have given us rules on how to be moral like the Christian ten commandments.
Questions that should be asked are:
Why should we follow these rules?
On what foundations did God set these rules?
Are these commandments good enough because God says they are good?
"Using adultery as an example, James Rachel argues thus, 'if nothing is wrong with adultery prior to God's command, then he could have no reason to forbid it: and if something was wrong with it, then it's wrongness is not dependent on God's command' —
General studies text on Philosophy and Logic, University of Benin.
Some theistic scripts that were purportedly written by men through the inspiration of the Creator, have not been found to wholly support Humanity, which is the primary aim of morality.
For instance, the Quran supports Jihadism; a holy war or pogrom, which is the forceful conversion of non-believers of the Islamic faith to Islam, hence they are killed justifiably because Allah, the supreme dictator of right and wrong, had commanded them to do so.
Also the Holy Bible and the Torah apparently supports slavery and Gender inequality because God had ordered it should be so.
It is apparent that even the Divine command theory, as a moral concept isn't a "perfect" form of morality.
From the three forms of morality discussed above, it is quite clear that:
No moral ideology can be described as the perfect one to adhere to.
One doesn't have to be theistic to be described moral, as aside the Divine command theory, there are other moral concepts.
Morality is not a theistic Ideology but theism harnesses the ideology of morality.
Thanks for reading, thanks for stopping by, have a great day!
Original article by Me @kingeazi