Issues of morality, medicine and religious belief can be interrelated in certain highly specific situations; and they can impinge upon each other in very general ways (R.W. Hepburn (1976). The morality of life and death and the way we control what should be done to shorten life are some of the issues when coming to morality and religion. The fact that specific religions has their outlook into how life should be dealt with from their religious views gives a similarity of views which comes from both believers and non-believers about God’s existence, nature and commands. For if we have reason to say that God’s nature is itself supremely good, and His commands binding, we must be relying upon some independent ability to discriminate good from bad and right from wrong. And if even a religious ethic requires us to have such ability (as it must, unless it reduces the moral life to sheer passive submission to commands of whose moral quality we are altogether ignorant), then that same capacity allows us to form a non-religious ethic also. (R.W. Hepburn (1976).
Lawrence Kohlberg introduce the six stages of moral development he then worked amongst Jean Piaget where his work originated into a larger scale of three levels. Kohlberg utilized different scenes where he used children and asked a number of questions to comprehend and gain better insight into the scenarios for proper understanding. In the case he didn’t structure for any specific true or false answers but to base ideas on the way it was brought across through the thinking process and how it was executed.
Religion is older than morality. Religion flourished in the stage of custom, and its ceremonials were elaborated by pre- literate and savage men long before there was any systematic reflection upon the ends sought or the means employed to realize them. E.S. Ames (1928). The Morals that associate with philosophy would have begun in the time period where the Sophists who were from Greece, whereas being in the thoughts and mind of Socrates. There were a lot of different forms of religion that have been in existence where the majority of Gods were from ancient times. They were heavily involved in the lives of people and children even before proper understanding was developed and with their own type of criticism. The degree of moral conduct has been granted better achievement in present time.
According to the Merriam- Webster Dictionary Morality is “conformity to ideals of right human conduct”. I would imagine that one’s morals is basically the way of expressed behaviour and what is deemed right or wrong. Religion on the other hand is defined as in Merriam – Webster’s Dictionary is “commitment or devotion to religious faith or observance.” Religion is a way beliefs and practices are maintained and it allows persons to feel grounded spiritually. When morality and religiosity are aligned together they can cause some conflict into believing that one without the other is wrong or may not be able to function. As a child I would always hear if you do not have proper morals you would have not been brought up right. It was as though you basically were brought up “anyhow” as Caribbean people would say or just “dragged up”. I do not agree because there are children who came from a very “luxurious life” with supposedly morals and even a strong background of spirituality and would turn out just like any normal child.
Religion as I know it has always been a topic that would cause conflict and arguments because of the personal emotions that persons hold to it. The belief that the more religious or spiritual one was raised the better you are as a person because you are inclined with the higher being. This to me has always been quite interesting to understand the root of where this was deemed facts because it seemed to be the opinion Society used to blind citizens. The belief that Church people were the ones that would stand out and go to heaven whereas the “heathens” or “atheists” as they would call it would be the persons who would have not attended church, would have lacked the proper upbringing values and morals which demoralised their being.
This in turn contributed to the thought that persons who go to church would strive to possess high moral standards and achieve fruitfully than persons who were not religiously inclined. In recent times it has shown that a lot of “spiritual persons “whose children were actively involved in the church were committing crimes and doing things that they were not expected doing. I believe that morals do not absolutely rely on religious spirituality to be certain. A person can have high moral standards and not go to church nor believe in any particular religion or God. A person can also be spiritually inclined and lack proper morals and behaviour, so basically it can be twisted around but yet it doesn’t always follow each other the way it is made up to.
Morals and behaviour stem from your background and socialization. If a person has a Christian background they would gravitate towards what their beliefs tells them that is right from wrong. This would then build a foundation for the way they socialize and react around their peers because of their religious following. In the religion of a Muslim the same would follow the spiritual faith would be practiced, guidelines and the affiliation of initial socialization would be adhered to what know. Morals can also be formed as a person generally learns and understands how the world is, they can be a non- believer and with the exposure to situations where they build and form on what see, hear and interact amongst. The perception of Morals being based on religion is not entirely factual to me.
In the Caribbean religion most people stem from culture to culture, persons feel a sense of identity by their culture and the way they were taught. Many religious followers deny from change and believe that whatever happens to them they believe that it the way that God wants it for them. Their morals relate highly towards their beliefs and they are convinced that the morality and teachings began from Jesus earlier in the Church. Morals tend to lean in favour of persons with higher status and power, whereas a person with less power is advantaged at certain opportunities and therefore is expected to show more moral conduct being underprivileged. Morality engages with boundary setting with the exception that persons doesn’t infringe on another person’s rights or space in general. It is there chosen way of belief so it is adopted and expected to gain a level of respect towards each person.
References
- Edward Scribner Ames International Journal of Ethics, Vol. 38, No. 3 (Apr., 1928), pp. 295-306 (Religion and Morality) Retrieved on 30-10-2018: Retrieved at
- https://www-jstor-org.library.open.uwi.edu/stable/pdf/2378155.pdf?refreqid=excelsior%3A7abf3b09deb260c9835ffe0c0801458d
- Merriam- Webster Dictionary (1828) Religion: Retrieved at
- https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/religion
- Merriam- Webster Dictionary (1828) Morals: Retrieved at
- https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/morality
- R. W. Hepburn Journal of Medical Ethics (1976) Vol. 2, No. 2 (Jun., 1976), pp. 93-94 (Morality and Religion) Retrieved on 30-10-2018: Retrieved at
- https://www-jstor-org.library.open.uwi.edu/stable/pdf/27715553.pdf?refreqid=excelsior%3Ae8d9b88ad5cf5832ad3001dfed6917d0
- Ste Richardsson (2 June 2014) Moral Development and Religion: Retrieved from
- Moral Development and Religion
- The Impact of Religion and Morality (October 24th 2010) The Gleaner Retrieved from
- http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20101024/focus/focus9.html
