Can a person have morals

I am not arrogant enough to think that I am capable of defining what is right and what is wrong. I yeild to a higher authority. Rather than being a simpleton it is a mark of wisdom when one learns he is not the center of the universe.

 

everybody believes something. if you call what people believe "religion" then yes, everybody is religious. since it doesn't seem to matter what the religion is called, i'll just make up my own that happens to fit my world-view. i am the sole practitioner of that religion. am i different now for believing in a religion?

 

I give up

Thelt, you one of those guys going door to door on sundays?

the ones you can't get rid of

 

Most religions incorporate a prescribed set of morals, even if it's "serve yourself as far as it does no harm to another". But I agree with Thelt in that whether morals or religion existed first is probably a chicken-and-the-egg argument with no real discernable answer.

That being said, I think a non-religious person can absolutely adhere to a moral code, whether that code is 'inherited', or made up as he or she went along.

The difference is, that individual has the ability and the self-given right to amend that code at will. In other words, the difference between religious morals and individual morals isn't so much a question of which one is 'better' or even stronger, but where the true authority lies. Where does the buck really stop? For the unchurched, the buck stops with the individual... always. With the religious person, the individual has chosen to have the buck stop with the religion's authority, rather than his or her own.

 

Very, very well said, HB.

While I agree that when it comes to a moral code, those who don't defer to some higher authority always have the final say in deciding what is moral, & what is not:

Still, I think most people have a conscience that guides those choices. And I think that what conscience a person develops is to some degree genetic, & to a much greater degree learned from experience & culture.

I'd be willing to bet that although atheists don't believe in a "higher power," that most of them would not choose to alter their moral standards without a compelling reason to do so--something beyond a simple desire to satisfy oneself without guilt.

For example: I believe that stealing is wrong, wrong, wrong. I also think that there are big businesses that cause great harm & gouge their customers. I couldn't justify to myself stealing from such organizations just because they are (to my mind) harmful & unfair, & would not suffer from the loss. I would still know that I was taking something that did not belong to me.

Most reasonably intelligent, thoughtful people could probably agree on a great many moral issues--those of the greatest importance, at least, in terms of human interaction. Those who submit to a religious authority would include codes of religious conduct that others might not consider important, though.

 

With the religious person, the individual has chosen to have the buck stop with the religion's authority, rather than his or her own.


Whats the diffrence between societal morals and religious morals?

 

In what regard?