Why might someone believe that it is? What challenges does such a view face?
From the very beginning of the society religion has played very important part in upholding of the morality. It is the group behavior and therefore it has remarkable influence on the society to behave morally.
The pillars on which the LAW is founded are natural justice and positive morality.
Positive morality is rules of conduct approved by public opinion of any community. They are the rules maintained and enforced in that community.
Thus there is a necessity to have Community with some principles based on morality which emerges from religious beliefs.
Aristotle has said that universal law consists of those unwritten rules which are recognized among the group of people- the society. Such groups and morality principles are all on account of religion- people are afraid of almighty God and to earn credit from him they are motivated to be moral. They have the fear that they will be otherwise driven out.
Natural law which is observed equally in all nations is established on divine prudence is changeable by the tacit consent of people.
When no law was existing, Common law was in force. What is right and what is wrong was based on the belief that if you do right God will be pleased else He will punish you. Thus the origin of morality is found in the religious communities.
I therefore feel religion is necessary in order to motivate people to behave morally.
YEP !!!!! We believe it goes to generations !!! Paying the debt for morality ...
So , to a large extent it is ...I am not saying contrary is true ...
There is no one definition of morality, it is a relative notion depending on a number of parameters like the dominant culture, traditions, popular beliefs and relegious general orientations. What is moral in one place is almost immoral or frankly immoral in other places. So in conclusion, the relative area dependent answer is yes.
From the very beginning of the society religion has played very important part in upholding of the morality. It is the group behavior and therefore it has remarkable influence on the society to behave morally.
The pillars on which the LAW is founded are natural justice and positive morality.
Positive morality is rules of conduct approved by public opinion of any community. They are the rules maintained and enforced in that community.
Thus there is a necessity to have Community with some principles based on morality which emerges from religious beliefs.
Aristotle has said that universal law consists of those unwritten rules which are recognized among the group of people- the society. Such groups and morality principles are all on account of religion- people are afraid of almighty God and to earn credit from him they are motivated to be moral. They have the fear that they will be otherwise driven out.
Natural law which is observed equally in all nations is established on divine prudence is changeable by the tacit consent of people.
When no law was existing, Common law was in force. What is right and what is wrong was based on the belief that if you do right God will be pleased else He will punish you. Thus the origin of morality is found in the religious communities.
I therefore feel religion is necessary in order to motivate people to behave morally.
Dear Sir
Life is a junction of happenings. two main duties we have to execute For Nature (Almighty) for peer -human. The blessing of religious teachings helps/guide/assist/suggest/motivate us to perform, manage, execute, multi-task in a balanced manner.
Thus religion is a blessing and provides vital aid.
Regards,
Jahangir
Religion has assisted in coaching the moral behaviors of people since time immemorial. This is even true in most cases where religion and/or teachings from Holy books have been able to change the bad behavioral attitudes of many thieves, fornicators, drunkards and so forth.
But, moral laws in nature and the consciences of nonreligious people have equally coached them to behave in moral uprightness.
I think individuals whose moral lives have been influenced by the beliefs in cosmology (higher spirit giving laws) and the reverence for such higher spirits have been the strongest forces regulating behaviors of religious activists in particular, toward positive actions.
Yes, religion is the one who guides people to adhere to the virtuous virtue that Allah has set for them
Behaving in the best way depends on oneself. I think religion is not a reason that leads people to be good or bad.
Regards!
It is not necessarily that the Prophet Muhammad said, but it was sent to the unethical morality that means that morality exists in the human beings by nature and religion is complementary to it
It is not only humans that create mechanisms and orders of self organizing, but all bodies in the universe. Those bodies which solidified themselves to be intact and remain one establish a self organizing mechanism of order, without which they will not be what they are. It is natural therefore that such self organizing mechanisms and orders developed in the thinking scheme of human beings, for otherwise no family and thereby no community and no society. There are and were human societies without what the modern people collectively worship, religion, where their continued better and stronger coexistence in solving the challenges of the jungles of nature is based on the moral rules and ethical actions that are based on what truth to them.
It is not necessary, but it is helpful, religion gives motivations and tips.
Have you read "Antigone" (a tragedy of Sophocles, writen and played in 441 Before Christ in Greece)? There you can see that there is something, not related to the established religion and law, that is stronger than greek laws of Thebas: the moral conscience. This example is interesting to understand that moral and religion, at least in certain traditions, are not necessarily linked. However, in Christian Tradition you have a strong relation between both.
Is religion necessary in order for people to be motivated to behave morally? The answer depends on the way you understand the link between moral and religion.
Why might someone believe that it is? This belief is grounded on the essential link between moral and religion.
What challenges does such a view face? I will indicate three, but could be more. First: history and the experience, for instance, "Antigone" of Sophocles... Second: the use of religion for non-moral purposes (for instance, blasphemy) Third: hypocrisy.
I do not believe religiosity to any one set of beliefs to be an absolute necessity for moral behaviour, though the relevance of religion to our moral structure is not easily dismissed.
Belief systems in a supra-ordinate morality are universal across all cultures and have been so since the dawn of time. Man is a pack animal, and religion has been a code of behaviour laying out life’s highest principles as perceived by each ‘pack’.
While most of us today would find it naive to adhere dogmatically to any one belief-system, it would be imprudent (verging on arrogant) to assume that higher moral structures weaved over hundreds of generations hold no value to our ‘modern’ ethical standards.
Higher moral structures coded in the form of law or religion have proven, time and again, to be essential for communities to prosper in peace and good order. One might of course argue that we may do just as well without them. Some even go as far as advocating anarchy and claim that we will all live in peace in the absence of hierarchical systems (not only of values, but also of authority, and therefore law), a claim for which to my knowledge there is no evidence whatsoever. Man is nowhere close to being a peaceful animal. Jung’s ‘shadow’ theory put that matter well in perspective, which together with the great wars of the last century, has debunked the old notion of religion being the root of all evil.
The argument for acting out justice off one’s own ‘instinctual’ moral fiber remains, though such morality would require a high degree of self-restraint and innate discipline, for it is of its own nature prone to a high degree of subjectivity and bias.
It is also not immediately obvious that that instinctual moral bias always works in favour of the individual.
Raskolnikov in Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment is a classic example of an individual acting out a personal sense of justice as he sees fit through his subjective view of the world without much consideration for the wider moral code of his times. He pre-meditates, justifies, and executes a murder, then watches his life (and - interestingly, that of those around him) descend into chaos.
A more contemporary example of self-righteous action gone wrong would be Jimmy’s story in Clint Eastwood’s Mystic River.
It seems to me that codes of conduct, whether they take the form of religion or law, remain a vital point of reference even in today's 'progressive' times.
Not at all necessary -- look at Buddhsism, for instance. Quite often religion only confounds, muddies the water. Throughout human history organized religion has done more harm than good.
Compassion for fellow beings, for all sentient creatures, should be the moral impetus than religion.
As one of the previous comments said, different cultues have different standards, then we get into relativism. That is no good either.
Just saying ...
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