Religion as a Moral Center
Is religion necessary to a good moral center?
Filed under Religion
| Skeptoid #02 October 11, 2006 Podcast transcript | Listen | Subscribe Also available in Japanese | French |
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By Brian Dunning, Skeptoid Podcast
Episode 02, October 11, 2006
http://skeptoid.com/episodes/4001
Today we pull open the drawer in the motel bureau and face the need to have a Moral Center, that core set of behaviors and ethics that governs the way we conduct ourselves and live our lives.
It may shock you to learn this, but I am non-religious. I do not believe that supernatural deities exist. There's nothing evil or wrong about that. I view the Christian God in the same way that the average Christian views Shiva, Athena, or Thetans. There's nothing evil or wrong about doubting the actual divinity of those characters either. Yet a common generalization made by some religious people is that the non-religious lack a moral center. More than once, in late night bull sessions with religious friends, I've been told that faith is a necessary component for developing a sound moral center. The implication is that religious beliefs play an important role in the development of a normal, healthy system of ethics and personal conduct. Without religious faith, one is less likely to become a "moral" person. Thus, one of many reasons that people of faith want to reach out to the non-religious is to help them to find a Moral Center, so we don't have a bunch of naked godless pagans running around wreaking havoc and mayhem.
My response to the religious people — after thanking them for the assumption that I am an unethical person — is to compare our Moral Centers and see where these supposed differences lie. If you knew me personally, you would probably find me to be a generally upstanding person, like yourself, who stays out of trouble, brushes his teeth, walks his kids to school, and tries not to shout too much in the library.
Like you, I am generally an honest person. I don't cheat people in business. I don't steal or commit crimes any worse than speeding on the freeway. I lie all the time, but only when the lie is a helpful one: "Yes, you look great in those parachute pants."
Like you, I play fair in sports, even against unfair opponents. I try to be a gracious loser, and occasionally even a gracious winner.
Like you, my family is the most important thing in my life. Preserving the love, trust, and happiness in my family absolutely outweighs all other priorities in my life.
Like you, I have a clear sense of right and wrong. Generally, behavior that injures someone else is wrong, and most of us avoid doing that whenever possible.
Like you, if I see a complete stranger drop their wallet — even if they're a different race and speak a different language — I'll spring into action like Batman to return it to them. It would never occur to either you or I to keep it or expect a reward for returning it.
If I see an elderly woman, I don't run over, punch her in the face and steal her purse; and neither does a religious person. But note that no religious person ever says "I would love to punch out that old woman, but I can't because God told me not to." Nobody is going to do something like that, because it's so obviously wrong. Rarely or never does a basically good person — and that's most of us — need religious commandments to stop them from doing something wrong.
In summary, my Moral Center is essentially the same as yours. It comes from the basic goodness of human nature, and my own sense of right and wrong that is universally shared among all people. It does not stem from having read any particular set of religious commandments, or from fear of punishment from a deity. Since I formed this ethical system in the lack of a religious context, how could my Moral Center be so similar to that of the average Christian or Buddhist? I argue that everyone's basic Moral Center comes from human nature, the nurture of societal interaction, and the sense of right and wrong. Since everyone already has these things, the need to credit religion as an additional source is redundant and thus wholly unnecessary.
A common retort from religious people is that God gave me those things: common sense, and the ability to tell right from wrong. If that's so, and everyone (atheists included) has been gifted with all the fundamentals needed to develop a Moral Center, then we're still left at the same place. A religious upbringing is still superfluous.
Religion is an important and favored part of life for most people. Its practice brings them satisfaction in many ways. But religion is absolutely not necessary to become a good person, or to have a sound Moral Center. Philanthropists, educators, doctors, emergency workers, and Nobel laureates have the same general breakdown of religious affiliation (including no religion) as the population at large, because they are the population at large.
© 2006 Skeptoid Media, Inc.
References & Further Reading
Boyer, Pascal. Religion Explained. New York: Basic Books, 2001.
Clear, T. R. Clear, Stout, B.D. "Does Involvement in Religion Help Prisoners Adjust to Prison?" National Criminal Justice Reference Service. U.S. Department of Justice, 1 Nov. 1992. Web. 1 Sep. 2006. <http://www.ncjrs.gov/app/Search/Abstracts.aspx?id=151513>
Curlin, Farr A, Lantos, John D et al. "Religious Characteristics of U.S. Physicians." J Gen Intern Med. 1 Jul. 2005, Volume 20, Number 7: 629–634.
de Waal, Frans. Good Natured: The Origins of Right and Wrong in Humans and Other Animals. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1996.
Nielsen, Kai. Ethics Without God. New York: Prometheus Books, 1990.
Reference this article:
Dunning, B.
"Religion as a Moral Center." Skeptoid Podcast. Skeptoid Media, Inc.,
11 Oct 2006. Web.
18 May 2013. <http://skeptoid.com/episodes/4001>
Discuss!
10 most recent comments | Show all 848 comments
It takes a brave person to admit he/she believes in a higher power as it leaves one open to scorn and ridicule from those who claim not to believe. It is so much easier not to believe as that means that there is no sin therefore we are not accountable and we can live our lives as we want-lying, cheating,stealing,immorality, selfishness and self service, bigotry, racism etc are okay because there is no way that 2 billion people have got it right!
If only more people in this world followed the tenets of the great spritual leaders instead of worshipping the gods of mamon and technology there would be less crime, less poverty, less misery, less suicide and maybe countries would be led by people who are committed to the wellbeing of this planet and not driven by greed for wealth and power at other peoples' expense.
I know who has got my vote!!
Joe, Dban
November 17, 2012 5:40am
Ive just dragged out the worlds smallest violin for Joe...
Its the believe bit that is in question..
Moralising is a human trait.
Mud, Sin City, Oz
February 14, 2013 3:24am
Some of the poorest, most miserable people live in heavily religious countries. Some of the wealthiest, greediest, most selfish people in the world are also the most pious.
But it is quite possible to follow the tenets of religious teachings without believing in a deity. Such teachings are universal in all religions, whatever god they believe in, which seems to suggest these are human beliefs, not ones imposed on us by a god. It's quite cynical to believe that the only reason to be a good person in this life is so you avoid punishment in the next. 'Pascal's Wager' is a coward's way out.
And if the worst religious people can expect from those who 'claim' (nice weasel word there) not to believe is a bit of scorn and ridicule,then they're doing a lot better than atheists and agnostics living in 'religious' societies.
Darren, Liverpool, UK
February 14, 2013 3:42am
Not to mention the way women are regarded and treated in some of those religious societies.
I think stoning to death is still practised as a legal penalty, in some of these highly religious countries. Hanging for blasphemy etc.
Doesn't sound much like fine examples of a Moral Centre to me.
In the Western world we have the disgraceful and widespread cases of sexual and violent abuses of helpless little children by priests and nuns of the Roman Catholic church, who were entrusted to look after them.
I depart from my normally moderate stance on most things, and state here that those despicable examples of humanity that used their positions of power and piety to engage in actions that most non-religious people would never dream of doing, should have been defrocked and thrown into prison for life, and their pious bosses that harboured them and obstructed the course of justice have the same dished out to them.
Why should those criminals not spend the rest of their lives in jail, when the lives of those they swore to protect were in many cases irretrievably ruined ?
I have no problem with anyone who believes in some sort of a supernatural higher power.
But why should the belief of retribution from God be the reason for doing good instead of bad ?
Why not make the personal decision, without anyone else's influence, religious or otherwise, to follow the one great rule,
Do Unto Others As You Would Have Them Do Unto You.
Heaven on Earth then ? You bet.
Macky, Auckland
March 11, 2013 4:27pm
As a developmental psychologist, I would like to point out a key point in discussions such as this: None of us develops our value systems in a vacuum. Values are transmitted intergenerationally from a multitude of sources (See Bandura, Vygotsky, etc.). While it is very true that many people with strong moral centers do not ascribe their morals to any religious sensibility, it is undeniable that -- speaking for western culture -- our cultural value system has pervasive roots in judeo-christian values. I do not believe it is a fair statement to declare one's value system as being independent from religious influence. Morals are entirely dependent upon cultural context.
Keith, Champaign, IL, USA
March 28, 2013 6:02pm
"our cultural value system has pervasive roots in judeo-christian values".
Are you sure it isn't the other way round, Keith? Or did humanity live in a complete moral vacuum before the advent of ''judeo-christian values''?
Darren, Liverpool, UK
March 30, 2013 4:45pm
no, our "moral" (no nouns) system is based on the values our Judaeo/christian/islamic values are drawn upon. Yes we could say many correspondent "moral values" are Buddhism and Persian...
2500 years of philosophy is ok to bring an ethic of a sort.
But lets face it, unless science as an underlying quality system for ethic is anything to go by, then ethic just becomes moral nouns.
Even calculator toting engineers understand that one!
Mud, Pho\\\'s Slave palace, Gerringong the Brave, NSW
April 01, 2013 1:02am
Religions have adapted, transcribed and repackaged morals which existed many eons before any known religion. I give religion credit for branding and formalizing these morals, but not for inventing them. Tribes of primitive humans could never have held together and carried on for generations without morality. Religion came later.
Bill Kowalski, St. Louis
April 08, 2013 12:24pm
Bingo Bill.. but tribes could have invented BS in part of their survival explanations..
Further etherics for today.. my freshly brewed red ale and my (suffering) son's biochem text book..
My goodness, they pack some pretty pictures into biochem texts compared to 40 years ago..
I didnt try etherics on the page.. I didnt get instructions for those..
Mud, Sin City
May 02, 2013 9:21am
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you are wrong at all if you do not believe in God, your knowledge level is too poor, and you are so pitiful
gkjj, gjfjg
November 02, 2012 7:47am