A lot of people beleive that morality is taken from religion. I personally believ that it is not true. Moral principles don’t necessarily have to have a religious doctrine behind them.
Whats your view?
Re: Is Morality Driven From Religion Only
I believe it has much to do with common sense and being honest. Most of the stories told to us, or are in our text books, are religious free... There's this tortoise, duck, elephant, whatever... and by the end of the story, the morale of it is not bound to any such entity.
It is true that a big part of morality is taken from religion, but that doesn't mean that a Hindu or a Christian is better than a Muslim 'cos of his religion. If they are any better than it's ;cos of their moral and ethical values. All religions teach almost same moral values don't they... the bigger chunk of it i mean. So, it comes to common sense in the end. In my view. Which i guess coincides with yours... i may be wrong.
Re: Is Morality Driven From Religion Only
brother I don't know how you reached the conclusion that morality shouldn't be taken from religion but that is just plain wrong. Morality pretty much defines our way of life as it gives a set of rules/laws. We, as being humans, are limited in wisdom, knowledge, etc.; hence, we cannot decide for ourselves what is moral and what is immoral. Therefore, a Divine Being, who knows what is best for us, decides the morality for us and this is where the religion comes into play. If we were to say the opposite then we have an inconsistent morality which is subjective in nature and changes from place to place and time to time.
Yes, there are many things which are based upon our fitrah (natural belief), meaning we consider them immoral, for example killing innocent people. However, you still need to go back to the Divine source to make sure that your fitrah is intact and has not been corrupted. The divine source is the key for consisten set of rules for all people for all time.
I'll say more later but this should serve as the foundation.
Re: Is Morality Driven From Religion Only
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A lot of people beleive that morality is taken from religion. I personally believ that it is not true. Moral principles don't necessarily have to have a religious doctrine behind them.
Whats your view?
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True thats a self-righteous view that is taken by religious people
however what is "moral behaviour" is relative to time and culture, what might be moral in 19th century might not be in 21th .... and this runs contrary to religion like islam which preaches universal morals for all times.Esp since we have had the last prophet (saw)
if people can undersatnd this concept a lot of name calling from both sides can be reduced.
Re: Is Morality Driven From Religion Only
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We, as being humans, are limited in wisdom, knowledge, etc.; hence, we cannot decide for ourselves what is moral and what is immoral. Therefore, a Divine Being, who knows what is best for us, decides the morality for us and this is where the religion comes into play. If we were to say the opposite then we have an inconsistent morality which is subjective in nature and changes from place to place and time to time. I'll say more later but this should serve as the foundation.
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I agree with you 100 % , but remember that this is a concept which is firmly established in our minds as we believe in the finalty of Prophethood ...
this makes muslims adhere to Quran and Sunnah strictly and ANY innovation bad or allegedly good is automatically rejected.This is the best safeguard against degenration of religion as had happened to previous ones.
But this concept is alien to people of most other religions and they might do things which are considered immoral to us but are considered moral in their time and place.Even though i dont agree with their logic its understandable why they think that way
Re: Is Morality Driven From Religion Only
it may not be driven from religion but the only sure shot way of implementing morality is to have a religious-socio society
brother I don't know how you reached the conclusion that morality shouldn't be taken from religion but that is just plain wrong. Morality pretty much defines our way of life as it gives a set of rules/laws. We, as being humans, are limited in wisdom, knowledge, etc.; hence, we cannot decide for ourselves what is moral and what is immoral. Therefore, a Divine Being, who knows what is best for us, decides the morality for us and this is where the religion comes into play. If we were to say the opposite then we have an inconsistent morality which is subjective in nature and changes from place to place and time to time.
Yes, there are many things which are based upon our fitrah (natural belief), meaning we consider them immoral, for example killing innocent people. However, you still need to go back to the Divine source to make sure that your fitrah is intact and has not been corrupted. The divine source is the key for consisten set of rules for all people for all time.
I'll say more later but this should serve as the foundation.
I am not saying that morality shouldn't be taken from religion. What i am saying is that its possible to derive morality without religion.
Re: Is Morality Driven From Religion Only
No.
But in religion its much well define. Plus religion is still the only code for most of population on the earth.
Now If a person with over grown brain size can drive morality for him self, fine!.. he should keep it to him self...
Rather then preaching same practice(driving things at his own) to other ppl.... Cuz weak willed would take that to an other level.
brother I don't know how you reached the conclusion that morality shouldn't be taken from religion but that is just plain wrong. Morality pretty much defines our way of life as it gives a set of rules/laws. We, as being humans, are limited in wisdom, knowledge, etc.; hence, we cannot decide for ourselves what is moral and what is immoral. Therefore, a Divine Being, who knows what is best for us, decides the morality for us and this is where the religion comes into play. If we were to say the opposite then we have an inconsistent morality which is subjective in nature and changes from place to place and time to time.
Interesting logic,
We cannot decide for ourselves, what is moral and what is immoral. Therefore, a Divine Being, who knows what is best for us...
(In essence what you are doing is that you are giving an argument to make us understand that, we can't understand* :)*, so isn't self-contradiction obvious..)
But the problem is that, No Divine Being had told me what is good for me, What i got are the religions and there are alot of them, Further more there are alot of interpretations of a single religion.
So if i cannot decide for myself, how will i decide which religion to choose from?
Shall i take a for granted answer, and do not think over and just pick one randomly, what shall i do?
So you see things are not that simple as quoted statements are putting them.
In my opinion morality had nothing to do with religion, Its a cultural thing. While living in a culture, one knows what is wrong and what is right, there are God-less societies in the world, which are almost crime free.
True thats a self-righteous view that is taken by religious people
however what is "moral behaviour" is relative to time and culture, what might be moral in 19th century might not be in 21th .... and this runs contrary to religion like islam which preaches universal morals for all times.Esp since we have had the last prophet (saw)
if people can undersatnd this concept a lot of name calling from both sides can be reduced.
I find ur statement quite confusing, Sir.
Can u give us a couple of meaty examples, thus, as to how a specific moral activity, ethical behavior, is relative... I mean, how can something moral is acceptable in 19th and would not be in the 21st century?
Thankyou.
A lot of people beleive that morality is taken from religion. I personally believ that it is not true. Moral principles don't necessarily have to have a religious doctrine behind them.
Whats your view?
Humans left on their own, without any guidance will resort to animal like behaviors. Hence morality, although a common sense was taught to us by religion. After all 'common sense' is not that common .
Interesting logic,
We cannot decide for ourselves, what is moral and what is immoral. Therefore, a Divine Being, who knows what is best for us...
(In essence what you are doing is that you are giving an argument to make us understand that, we can't understand* :)*, so isn't self-contradiction obvious..)
But the problem is that, No Divine Being had told me what is good for me, What i got are the religions and there are alot of them, Further more there are alot of interpretations of a single religion.
So if i cannot decide for myself, how will i decide which religion to choose from?
Shall i take a for granted answer, and do not think over and just pick one randomly, what shall i do?
So you see things are not that simple as quoted statements are putting them.
In my opinion morality had nothing to do with religion, Its a cultural thing. While living in a culture, one knows what is wrong and what is right, there are God-less societies in the world, which are almost crime free.
So you are saying that those God Less societies in the world have been there since the existence of historical figures? And they have not seen any religion, and thus what ever moral or ethical ideas they have developed are THEIR own?
Please name JUST ONE.
I guess u cannot. Because all of those so called God less what ever societies are / have been driven by other religiously influenced ones. So, u can't say that their culture have not been ethically driven.
A lot of people beleive that morality is taken from religion. I personally believ that it is not true. Moral principles don't necessarily have to have a religious doctrine behind them.
Whats your view?
You haven't backed up your belief with any proof Icono.
Morality is not only taken or driven from Religion but also from Philosophy, Society and of course, from individual consciousness.
For Muslims and Believers, we have the perfect example of Prophet Muhammad(SAW) in front of us and if we need to look at his life which is "The Perfect Guide of Living a Moral Life". He(SAW) said:
"I have been sent only for the purpose of perfecting good morals."
The West and the Non-Muslims have a lot to learn from Islam. Individuals having the right of aborting babies, homosexual marriages and free sex don't bring any good to the individuals, infact it brings harms to the society. And, according to Plato and Aristotle good of the many out weigh the good of few. But all we hear today is "me, myself and I".
Re: Is Morality Driven From Religion Only
My question is, who came up with a moral idea/conduct first?
A Prophet or a Philosopher or a Scientist?
Re: Is Morality Driven From Religion Only
A Prophet who was a philosopher, and perhaps a scientist.
So you are saying that those God Less societies in the world have been there since the existence of historical figures? And they have not seen any religion, and thus what ever moral or ethical ideas they have developed are THEIR own?
Please name JUST ONE.
I guess u cannot. Because all of those so called God less what ever societies are / have been driven by other religiously influenced ones. So, u can't say that their culture have not been ethically driven.
*What are you trying to suggest that its not necessary to believe in religion to be moral?
*
The significance of religion is not just in its mere presence, but believing in it. If mere presence of religion in the history of man kind is enough, than i guess what you are suggesting is that, its not necessary to believe in religion to be moral, since there were religions in all the cultures.
Further on moral significance of religion what i want to ask you is, how would you know that certain moral conduct was initiated by religion in a vacuum, and people of the culture had known nothing about it?
And do you except old cultural people to understand such sudden changes, while even today in modern times people find very difficult to change, even to the right kind of ideas, take yourself as an example :D
Morality had developed in a on-going process of human history mainly originated in the culture, there were no vacuums and no big jumps, I can't see even today, any big jumps.
I find ur statement quite confusing, Sir.
Can u give us a couple of meaty examples, thus, as to how a specific moral activity, ethical behavior, is relative... I mean, how can something moral is acceptable in 19th and would not be in the 21st century?
Thankyou.
gay marriage
fornication
slavery
talking of western societies
gay marriage fornication slavery talking of western societies
You don't get punishment for these crimes in West but it doesn't mean that people accept it as a morally right thing.
There are no importance of morals left in these societies but there is no way they can prove these acts morally correct.
*What are you trying to suggest that its not necessary to believe in religion to be moral? *
Morality had developed in a on-going process of human history mainly originated in the culture, there were no vacuums and no big jumps, I can't see even today, any big jumps.
It's quite the contrary, if u have read it carefully.
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Further on moral significance of religion what i want to ask you is, how would you know that certain moral conduct was initiated by religion in a vacuum, and people of the culture had known nothing about it?
And do you except old cultural people to understand such sudden changes, while even today in modern times people find very difficult to change, even to the right kind of ideas, take yourself as an example :D
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I have asked u name just one.. u have failed to name JUST ONE.
Where as i can give u the example of Arabs, how Islam changed their whole life style. Quite dramatically.... not sufficient enough,..... but quite marvelously indeed.
And what did u mean by 'take yourself as an example'... are u eloquently incoherent about your over sized ideas?
Hopefully you'll refrain from such maneuvers. Let a discussion, be a discussion.
Thank you.
Re: Is Morality Driven From Religion Only
no