Morality Does Not Depend on Religion

Plato once said "Is what pious loved by the Gods because it is pious, or is it pious because it is loved?" What Plato is trying to make us think about here is whether moral actions are good because the Gods command it, or do the Gods command it because the action is good? In doing so Plato presents us with two possibilities. One where there are a set of absolute morals laws and God commands them because the actions are good within themselves. The other where there is only God and humans, no moral laws, and God commands humans to do things; these actions are only good because God commands them to be so. So which commands which? Morality or religion? There are many views to how religion and morality are connected, we can say that morality depends on religion, morality is independent of religion or morality is opposed to religion.

In popular thinking, morality and religion are inseparable. People commonly believe that morality can be understood only in the context of religion. When viewed from a nonreligious perspective, the universe seems to be a cold, meaningless place, devoid of value and purpose. “That all the labours of the ages, all the devotion, all the inspiration, all the noonday brightness of human genius, are destined to extinction in the vast death of the solar system, and that the whole temple of Man’s achievement must inevitably be buried beneath the debris of a universe in ruins. . . are yet so nearly certain that no philosophy which rejects them can hope to stand.” This is a quote from Bertrand Russell this quote means that the universe is a vast and potentially meaningless place, because of this in time religion will not be able to stand and I think this means that morality does not need to depend on religion.

The devine command theory is a theory developed that basically means that Behavior is considered morally right if it is commanded by God and morally wrong if it is forbidden. This seems to solve the objectivity problem in ethics. Ethics is not merely a matter of personal feeling or social custom. It is God’s will. The theory also provides a powerful reason for people to bother with morality. Divine punishment is not a pleasant prospect; reward, however, is very appealing.

Socrates asked Euthyphro Is conduct right because the gods command it, or do the gods command it because it is right? There are many way to suggest that It is right because God commands it. Firstly, This conception of morality is mysterious its not known and it is not thought about and the pure idea of it is frightening so people also choose not to think it It makes God’s commands arbitrary. Its based on random choice or personal whim, rather than any reason or system. It provides the wrong reasons for moral principles. This means that people are not good because they want to be good, they are good because they want to be rewarded and they want to go to heaven. Which means their morality is not intrinsically good.