Can One Be Moral and Not Believe In God Essay

Can One Be Moral and non Believe In God?Is it possible for an individual to snuff it virtuously with let on believing in God? For some champion who conceives in God this whitethorn be a difficult question to answer. Whereas, someone who does not see in God might immediately say that having morals has zippo to do with religion.So, to answer this question, we will examine at what it office to arrest morals, comp are the views of an Atheist and a Catholic, and savor how ethics plays a routine in answering this question. In the end, we will see that it is not essential to believe in a high power to merry mor all toldy. tally to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, a moral is defined as concerning or relating to what is beneficial and amiss(p) in human behavior (2013). For many years it has been debated on what it means to provoke morals. Some believe that a high power such(prenominal)(prenominal) as God set forth rules or guidelines as to how to live morally. Others believe that people do not need a higher power to determine how one should be possess in life. Ultimately, the answer lies in for distributively one individual and their understanding, and each answer may vary.However, there is a universal understanding of what is right and wrong. Everyone could agree that it is wrong to commit murder. We could all agree that we should treat differents with the level of respect that we wish to receive. But where did the central rules of morals complete from?Whether a person is sacred or not, each person could agree on the concept of the Golden Rule. concord to Mosser (2010), the trounce-known version comes from the Christian Bible Do unto former(a)s as you would have them do unto you (Sec. 2.1, Para. 19). Simply put, do not do something to someone else that you would you not essential them doing to you.If you do not wantsomeone to victimize off your test, do not cheat off someone elses test. If you do not want your call attentionifi raftt other t o cheat on you, you should not cheat on them. No matter what priming coat people may have, we spate all come up with the same conclusion that there are easily and bad dos. But how does each persons background effect their understanding of what is moral?Someone with a religious background, such as a Catholic, will tell you that God laid out the rules of what it means to have morals. Cynthia Stewart (n.a.) states, Catholics see the Ten Commandments found in the Hebraic scriptures as the basic groundwork for moral action, which together with the life of deliverer provide a deep and abiding understanding for how to act with issue and conscionableice in the world (Para. 3). The Ten Commandments are typically popular opinion of when find out what God considers to be sins.Catholics believe that how an individual behaves here on Earth will determine what they are to expect in the future. If you live a life filled with love of God and his children, you will welcome eternal happiness in heaven. However, if you live a life of immorality actions and choices you will be punished by going to hell.On the other hand there are the nonbelievers, such as Atheists, who do not believe in a God. According to Walters (2010), philosophical atheists put a high premium on reason, insisting that a rejection of God-belief moldiness be based on the same judicious scrutiny of available grounds and arguments called for in examining any claim (p. 12, Para. 3). Some people are just raised not to believe in this higher power, others may have had a bad religious experience which led them to this understanding.For these individuals they look at the situation at hand and determine through logical thought and reason what they must do in life. They do not look to a higher power to decipher what they should do, but look at bottom themselves and what is expected of them from their community. For example, if an Atheist sees someone steal something from an individual and run conquer the ro ad, they may run after the culprit because they have a wizard of duty to do what is right.Now that we have seen two different points of view, we must then consider how ethics can determine if someone can live a moral life with or withoutthe belief in God. Ethics is the way an individual justifies their decision on what is means to have morals.Lawler (2013) states, Contemporary ethics takes three normative bettermentes to determining the morality of an action (1) the utilitarian set about, which gauges morality by utility (2) the deontological approach, which emphasizes rules, obligations, and duties and (3) the new virtue-ethical approach, which gives precedence not to the actions of the agents but to their personal characters formed in their respective moral communities and wise(p) through the imitation of the respected role models in those communities (p. 443, Para. 2).Which view each individual will agree with will drastically vary. Each approach has integrity and will serve the same purpose in determining what is right from wrong. The difference is in the approach, whether by utility, rules, or an individuals actions. However, even though these views may come up with the same conclusion, which is the best ethical placement?The ethical system that works best for me is the virtue-ethical approach of which focuses on the individual. Adults have an obligation to raise children to be responsible and goodish so that they can then teach the next generation and so on. However, as individuals we can only take responsibility for our own actions. According to McCloskey (2008) there are seven virtues of which can be rearranged and accordd in order to determine if one is virtuous courage, temperance, justice, prudence, faith, hope, and love (p.46, Para. 4).After reviewing sixfold ways that one can merge these virtues together, I have obstinate that one does not necessarily need every single one of these to be considered virtuous. For someone who believes in Go d, they may very well combine faith with courage, and take the belief that their courage comes from God. Someone who is a non-believer may unite courage with prudence. Each person would still be considered virtuous. Because any persons views can be used is the ethical system it shows that this system can be used universally between religious and non-religious beliefs.To understand all of what we have reviewed thus far, let us look at burbot the Catholic and Mary the Atheist. Both people jampack down the same road every day to go to work. They both see a man on the side of the road withthe sign pleading for gold. Both stop and give the man some money to help him get through the day. Why do they do it? Heather was raised Catholic and was taught that when you see someone in need the right thing to do is to help. She believes that helping others will get her to heaven.On the other hand, we have Mary who is an atheist. She stopped to give the stranger money because she likes the good feeling she gets when helping someone. She does not rely on the thought of a God looking down on her, judging her actions for what is to come in her afterlife. So, would it be correct in saying that both individuals can be viewed as having morals?Some people who are strongly influenced by their religion may say that morality can only come from believing in a God. Without the moral rules set forth by God there is no reason to live in such a way.They may argue that without God-driven morals, there is no reason to believe that stealing is wrong. If there is no punishment by a higher power, then there are no rules to follow. However, there belief or argument is that there is in fact punishment in the afterlife for actions taken in this life. That judgment is determined by God, so wherefore God does exist and one should live a life fit to the rules he gave us.