THE ROLE OF RELIGION

IN ETHICS
RELIGIOUS Beliefs and practices of what is
good and bad, right or wrong,
ETHICS virtuous or vicious, from religious
point of view
 ETHICS
System of moral principles which affect
how people make decisions and lead their
lives
Religion Is based on the tenets of reason
and Ethics
RELIGION
Peoples beliefs and opinions concerning
the existence, nature, and worship of a
deity, and divine involvement in human life
 Religion is necessary for the continued
RELIGION’S survival of morality as an integral part of
ROLE IN human life
Glenn C. Graber’s apologetic claim the “
ETHICS cut-flower thesis”
 “ Cut-Flower Thesis”

 consist of a hypothetical judgement that ,“ Morality

cannot survive in the long run, if its ties to religion are
cut”
Without religion, there can be no real sincere
morality
Implies that those who believe that morality is a
valuable human institution, and those who wish to
Glenn C. Graber avoid moral disaster, should, therefore make every
effort to preserve its connection with the true religion
and sound religious belief that forms its roots
 Theism – the belief in God
Theistic ethics – God-based morality

THEISTIC Theistic Ethics believes that a supernatural

being called God is the foundation of morality
ETHICS The theory holds that the truth of moral
judgements depends on God’s will.
Theism considers faith in and obedience to
God as necessary part of being truly moral
Moral Supernaturalism
 Can satisfactory explain the existence of objective
ethical values and the moral law

1. Can justify Moral Values

2. Can explain Moral Accountability
3. No real Accountability in Non-Theism
4. The Euthyphro Dilemma
 Four Reasons:

a. Unless morality is grounded on the unchangeable

nature of a morally perfect being (God), there is no
basis for believing in moral absolutes.
1. Can justify b. If everything is relative, then there is no good reason
why anyone ought to abstain from doing anything he
Moral Values wishes to do
c. Only in theism are all persons held morally
accountable for their actions in the real sense
d. Only the ethics rooted in a Moral Law-Giver can be
truly prescriptive in any objective sense of the word.
  Ethical supernaturalism – better as an ethical
system in terms of explaining moral
accountability
2. Can explain  moral experience of being morally obligated
Moral  Morality - something above and beyond
Accountability ordinary facts of men’s behaviour.
 Someone made the rule so that moral rule is
just not disembodied principle but a rule of
somebody
  In naturalism or secularism, human life
just finds its end in grave
3. No Real  Absent in non-theism as the so called “
Accountability after-life”
in Non-theism  “ if there is no immorality, then all things
are permitted”
  Most common attack against moral
4. The theism
Euthyphro  “ Is a good thing good because God
Dilemma desires it? Or does God desire it because
it is already good?”
END