Religion: A Foundation to Morality
Religion is defined as any specific system of belief or practice that constitutes a code of ethics and some sense of philosophy. This code of ethics, which is called religious morality, points out what is considered to be right and wrong for its followers. Individual morality is also based on the principle of right and wrong, good and bad. However, developing individual morality is a complicated process. Philosophers throughout the ages continuously sought for the universal law that governs all moral actions, that is, a law that easily labels what is right and wrong. Religious morality is the fundamental core to this approach. Religious teaching tells us what is fundamentally right and wrong. Therefore, religious belief, while not vitally necessary, should be incorporated into every aspect in the development of individual morality, which it helps forming a foundation as well as supplying the necessary reinforcement that buttresses individual morality. Morality cannot be intuitive because man himself does not have a rational mind to point out what is right from wrong at birth, or even childhood. What he observes and experiences in the years after sets up the fundamental concepts of his personal ethics. Attaining indivi
What good is a judgment if there is no action? What good is reason without the will to act it out? Morality isn't just base on the code of ethics but "requires concrete action." (Jaroszynski). Doing the right thing is not always easy however as life if full of temptation and "destructive forces" of passion and desires (McDonald 32). What religion provides is the idea of an ultimate entity - omniscient, omnipresent, and omnipotent - whom its followers see as the epitome of what is presently good. Secondly is that human beings are unconditionally loved by Him. With this in mind, the followers of a certain religious faith act their lives according to what this ultimate being would do. Hence the familiar phrase "What would Jesus Do?" There is a perfect paradigm to govern each life accordingly. Whatever one does is reflected by Him so when he is tempted to venture onto the other side of moral goodness, he would be confronted by this realization of fear and shamefulness of how he is compared to Him. On the other hand, if he is to be morally good, he will feel that it is right and justified. In his rationale, religiously speaking, it is right because the "divine grace" was offered to human beings to "transformed [it unto] self and community." (McDonald 29). Thus religious belief offers motivation to act out individual morality. What religious followers have that non-followers do not have is faith. If man has faith, his morality is confirmed and "strengthened supernaturally by grace" (Jaroszynski). He does not hesitate to make decision based upon his religious morality because of his faith, the strong belief that his moral answer is right. Morality legitimacy would never be false if there are constant confirmation that faith often gives, prayer and contemplation. These are the tools that are used to strengthen morality and even faith itself. Without such practices humans are just "machine or computer operator" acting on the systematic thought processing over and over again (Jaroszynski). If discrepancy arises, which happens quite often, one would not know what to do since there are no faith and prayer to fix what is wrong. The result is the weakening of our morality structure. Man is now at a point in his life where he is exposed to other secular ethics
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1538
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)
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