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    Mohammad Olid Afzal
    The document discusses three main assumptions underlying the popular view that morality depends on religion: 1. Religious belief is needed for moral motivation. However, doing good only for reward or fear of punishment undermines moral character. 2. God must be the creator of morality as morality requires a lawmaker. But reasons that explain God's commands are what make actions right or wrong, not God alone. 3. Religion is an essential source of moral guidance as God knows morality perfectly and wants to share wisdom. But for religion to reliably guide morality, the existence of God and means of communication must be justified. Interpretations must also be defended and balanced with tradition.

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    Class 2

    Uploaded by

    Mohammad Olid Afzal
    21 views14 pages
    The document discusses three main assumptions underlying the popular view that morality depends on religion: 1. Religious belief is needed for moral motivation. However, doing good only for reward or fear of punishment undermines moral character. 2. God must be the creator of morality as morality requires a lawmaker. But reasons that explain God's commands are what make actions right or wrong, not God alone. 3. Religion is an essential source of moral guidance as God knows morality perfectly and wants to share wisdom. But for religion to reliably guide morality, the existence of God and means of communication must be justified. Interpretations must also be defended and balanced with tradition.

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    The document discusses three main assumptions underlying the popular view that morality depends on religion: 1. Religious belief is needed for moral motivation. However, doing good only for reward or fear of punishment undermines moral character. 2. God must be the creator of morality as morality requires a lawmaker. But reasons that explain God's commands are what make actions right or wrong, not God alone. 3. Religion is an essential source of moral guidance as God knows morality perfectly and wants to share wisdom. But for religion to reliably guide morality, the existence of God and means of communication must be justified. Interpretations must also be defended and balanced with tradition.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    21 views14 pages

    Class 2

    Uploaded by

    Mohammad Olid Afzal
    The document discusses three main assumptions underlying the popular view that morality depends on religion: 1. Religious belief is needed for moral motivation. However, doing good only for reward or fear of punishment undermines moral character. 2. God must be the creator of morality as morality requires a lawmaker. But reasons that explain God's commands are what make actions right or wrong, not God alone. 3. Religion is an essential source of moral guidance as God knows morality perfectly and wants to share wisdom. But for religion to reliably guide morality, the existence of God and means of communication must be justified. Interpretations must also be defended and balanced with tradition.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    of 14

    Dr.

    Kazi A S M Nurul Huda


    [email protected]
    Morality and
    October 9, 2021
    Religion
    ´ Religion as the most popular source
    of morality
    ´ 3 central assumptions underlying the
    popular view that morality depends
    on religion:
    1. Religious belief is needed to get 3 assumptions
    us to do our duty. about morality
    2. Morality must be created by
    someone, and God is by far the and religion
    best candidate for the job.
    3. Religious wisdom is the key to
    providing us with moral
    guidance.
    ´ Atheism prevents us from seeing why we
    should be moral.
    ´ The belief in God is more likely to motivate
    people to be moral as it gives them to be
    more conscientious and righteous.
    ´ So, why are religious people supposed to
    1st Assumption:
    be more conscientious and righteous? Religious
    ´ Our fear of God and our desire for a
    happy afterlife check on our immoral beliefs needed
    impulses.
    ´ Justice and reward at least in the for moral
    afterlife.
    motivation
    ´ Atheists do not have such strong reasons to
    be moral.
    ´ Can’t be they moral then?
    ´ If hope for heavenly reward or fear of God’s
    anger is what prompts us to do good, then we
    may well do the right thing but for the wrong
    reasons.
    ´ Doing good for God’s reward or for avoiding
    God’s punishments is different from doing
    good for the love for God.
    ´ Compare: doing good because you will get
    bribes.
    ´ Such a person is unreliably moral, for if she Problems of the
    came to believe that God really didn't offer
    the expected rewards and punishments, then 1st assumption
    she would see no reason to be moral.
    ´ Motivated by fear of God in being moral
    undermines moral character, rather than
    supports it.
    ´ People who deserve our praise and
    admiration are those who do their duty for
    its own sake. Rather than acting from
    ulterior, self-interested motives, they do
    what is right because it is right.
    ´No. Morally admirable
    behavior comes when we do
    our duty for its own sake, rather
    than from self-interest.
    ´Fear of God, or desire for
    Is God needed
    heavenly reward, do not to ensure that
    necessarily tarnish our
    character. But they are no we are morally
    substitute for a direct love of motivated?
    morality, which can be
    displayed as much by
    atheists as by religious
    believers.
    ´ “If God is dead, then everything is
    permitted.”– Dostoevsky, The Brothers
    Karamazov
    ´ Argument for God’s Creation of Morality:
    2nd ´Every law requires a lawmaker.
    ´Therefore, the moral law requires a
    assumption: lawmaker.
    God is the ´Humans cannot be the author of the
    moral law (since we are imperfect in so
    Creator of many ways).
    morality ´If humans cannot be the author of the
    moral law, then none other than God is its
    author (since God is wholly perfect).
    ´Therefore, God is the author of the moral
    law.
    ´ A perfect God must have had excellent
    reasons for laying down the moral law as He
    did. But then these reasons, and not God's
    commands, are what makes actions right or
    wrong. Actions are not right because God
    commands them. Whatever reasons support
    God's choices also explain why actions have
    Problems of the moral status they do.
    the 2nd ´ Suppose, for instance, that God really did
    forbid us from torturing others, and that God
    assumption had very good reasons for doing so. Assuming
    that these are the relevant reasons, then
    these reasons, and not God's say-so, are what
    makes torture immoral. These reasons can
    fully explain why torture is wrong. Torture is
    wrong because it is extremely painful,
    humiliating, and so on.
    ´ No.
    ´Rather, God (if He exists)
    understands everything, and so
    knows precisely what is wrong
    with such things as rape and
    torture, and right about such
    things as compassion and
    kindness. He issues commands on
    Does God
    the basis of this perfect create
    understanding, out of love for His
    creatures. A God who issues morality?
    commands for good reasons will
    rely on the very best reasons and
    those can explain, all by
    themselves, what is right and
    wrong.
    ´ God is not the creator of the moral law.
    ´But He could still play a crucial role in
    morality by being its infallible
    3rd reporter, and our expert guide. God
    knows everything including every
    assumption: single detail of the moral law. And if
    Religion is an God is all-loving, then God will want
    to share some of that wisdom with us.
    essential ´How will He share it?
    source of ´By means of revelation, either
    personal and direct (say, by
    moral talking to you or giving you signs of
    guidance certain kinds), or by indirect
    means (say, by inspiring the
    authors of a bible).
    ´ Compare: Thermometer
    ´2nd: acts are right and wrong
    because of God’s commands. Difference
    ´3rd: God’s commands don’t between the
    make actions right (or wrong).
    God’s commands are morally 2nd and 3rd
    decisive because He never assumptions
    makes a mistake.
    ´ Those who seek divine guidance in trying to
    lead a moral life must meet several
    conditions:
    1. It must be the case that God exists, and
    that we can be justified in believing this.
    2. God must offer us moral advice, and we
    must be able to defend the claim that
    He does so.
    Problems of 3. Theists must be justified in selecting a
    the 3rd particular source of religious and moral
    wisdom, such as the Koran, the Book of
    assumption Mormon, or the Christian scriptures.
    4. Theists must also defend specific
    interpretations of those sources.
    5. When an interpretation conflicts with
    tradition, religious believers must
    successfully argue for the priority of one
    over the other.
    ´ Possibly. That depends on many
    things such as
    ´whether God exists and speaks to
    us
    ´whether we can know which texts Does religion
    are divinely written or inspired
    ´whether we can defend our
    offer reliable
    favored interpretations against
    the competition
    moral
    ´ whether we can balance these guidance?
    interpretations against the
    importance of religious tradition
    and authority in cases of conflict.
    ´ Russ Shafer-Landau, The Fundamentals of Ethics,
    Reference Oxford University Press, 2018.
    Thank you!

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