Religion and Morality
The beginning of a new piece:
As a lifelong atheist I have always struggled with a question: is religion necessary for morality? I consider myself to be a moral person, and lacking any sort of religious foundation, the answer always seemed like it should be no. Religion should be a mass delusion used by a few individuals to gain power, wealth, influence and perhaps even control the populace with superstitious fear. A net loss of society at large; persisting only because, as Marx said, it serves as an opiate in our imperfect world. Following this came a more uncomfortable question: why then does it seem that the vast majority of societies use religion as their primary repository of moral values?
Here I humbly present an answer to that latter question. In doing so I will also answer the former question as best as it can be answered - which is to say hardly at all.
On with the question at hand - why do religions end up as the repositories for moral values in almost every society? - I will say that I was surprised at the answer. It is odd to admit as an atheist that religion has, indeed, value for society. Putting it shortly: religions end up as the repositories of moral values because they offer the most stable platform for them when reality, meaning and objectivity are fluid and often nonexistent.
More to follow...
As a lifelong atheist I have always struggled with a question: is religion necessary for morality? I consider myself to be a moral person, and lacking any sort of religious foundation, the answer always seemed like it should be no. Religion should be a mass delusion used by a few individuals to gain power, wealth, influence and perhaps even control the populace with superstitious fear. A net loss of society at large; persisting only because, as Marx said, it serves as an opiate in our imperfect world. Following this came a more uncomfortable question: why then does it seem that the vast majority of societies use religion as their primary repository of moral values?
Here I humbly present an answer to that latter question. In doing so I will also answer the former question as best as it can be answered - which is to say hardly at all.
On with the question at hand - why do religions end up as the repositories for moral values in almost every society? - I will say that I was surprised at the answer. It is odd to admit as an atheist that religion has, indeed, value for society. Putting it shortly: religions end up as the repositories of moral values because they offer the most stable platform for them when reality, meaning and objectivity are fluid and often nonexistent.
More to follow...
posted by vacuumrunamok at Thursday, March 27, 2008
1 Comments:
Love your topic of choice. I am an atheist and I have still to figure out that question. But although you may question religion and its purpose, I believe that it is undeniably necessary in our society. I will read what else you have to say to follow but first hopefully you can help me learn how to follow your blog? (:
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