Effects of Religion on Individuals’ Morality
Introduction
A religion can be termed as an institution through which people express their beliefs in a divine or supernatural being and power that influences human destiny. Thus, religion constitutes worship of a god or gods or any related system of belief and worship. The system of virtually all religions has a code of conduct that dictates how its followers should conduct themselves morally. These systems of religions also have devotional and ritual observances that are supposed to be made by the followers of the system. There are numerous religions all over the world with very many variations in terms of how they run their religious affairs. Religion has various aspects such as beliefs, narrative, symbolism and practices that are connote the meaning of symbols of the religion and its beliefs. A large number of religions center their beliefs on one deity (god) or several deities (gods) or a truth that is regarded as ultimate to the religion in question. Religion is more often than not a part of society and incorporates variuos aspects of societal activities into its practice. These activities may include rituals, music, prayer, meditation and art. At times it is interwoven into a country’s society and politics to an extent that church and state appear inseparable.
This can be exemplified by muslim states that enforce religion via the rules and laws of their muslim nations. Religions more often than not emphasize certain moral, metaphysical and paranormal claims that relate to reality about the hunam nature and micro/macro cosmos. These claims often yield ethics and religion based laws that influence elicit a particular lifestyle. Religion’s inclusions may entail sacred writings, history, mythology, and cultural or ancestaral based traditions. These may also encompass personal religious faith and experiences. At times religion may be interchageably referred to as a belief system or faith. On the other hand, moral philosophy (ethics) is one of the branches in philosophy that highlights and discusses issues that deal with morality. Moral philosophy deals with concepts that assess justice, virtues, good or bad and right or wrong. On the other hand, morals can be termed as the assumed totality of conduct that depicts a person’s morality-which refers to personal or cultural values that determine wrong or right in a descriptive sense. In a normative sense morality refers to what is right or wrong with no regard of what others think about the particular act or issue that is in question.
Abstract
The fact that religion develops a system of conduct to be followed by its members through its beliefs, traditions, writings and religious laws shows that it indeed it influences the conduct of society. As result, it influences that conduct of individual members in society be cause they darw their values from the society’s standards. This is exemplified by states that are religious or partly religious. These states write their laws and constitutions based on the religious belief of the religious institution regarded as the national faith. This paper highlights how religiosty influences morality of individuals in society and intends to determine the extent of influence.The paper takes a further look at the issue of whether non-religious individuals can be moral despite their atheistic nature. It also establishes whether morality can exist in society without the presence of religiosity among the society’s members. Addtionally, the paper highlights the connection between religion, politics and how the morality of individuals is influenced by this connection.
Religiosity and Morality in Society
Morality is viewed as the acceptable norms and rules in society. Morality often constitutes part of a religion’s beliefs that play the role of controlling its members by establishing and promoting regulations, customs and rules for people to follow. Subsequently, these set of standards form the basis of criminal law establishment in the justice systems of most governments.Religion influences politics to a great extent because a large part of the human population has some form of affiliation to a religion. In the making of political decisions (elections and legislation) religious leaders are recognized as part of the important stakeholders that should be consulted. Through these recognition they are ablle to assert the implementation of decisions that are based on the beliefs and edicts of theirindividual religions. These consented decisions in turn influence the general population at large. Therefore religion becomes a factor that determines the conduct of individuals through the decisions reached with the consultation of religious leaders. A good example could be the constitution drafting process that is ongoing in the African country-Kenya. Currently, there is a stand-off between religious leaders and political leaders on whether to pass the country’s draft constitution or not to pass the draft. The whole contention is based on the fact that the new proposed constitution is alleged to legalize abortion through some of the constituent clauses. Additonally, the constitution is meant to legalize kadhi courts based on muslim edicts. This portrays a good example of the role of the church in influencing morality amongst the members of society.
This classical example shows religion’s influence in the making of the constitution and laws that govern the morality and behavior of the citizens of a country. The established legislations not only govern conduct but are established to ensure that the morals behind the law’s definition are upheld. For example good morals under different faiths prohibit theft or murder. In the legislation, there are laws that illegalize these actions based on the society’s acquired view that these acts are immoral. This acquired view is linked to the religious teachings that depict theft and murder as immoral acts in society. Thus, the church’s belief and stand on morality is converted into criminal law that criminalizes these immoral acts. As a result this influences how people behave and act. This can be exemplified by the role religion played in crime definition in the colonial times during the eighteenth and seventheeth centuries. Key criminal offenses under the law of that period included heresy-holding belief/s that go against the docctrine of the church-blasphemy (depicting a lack of reverence to God). The form of punishments used during those times were meant to elicit guilt and shame so that they would not stray again in the future.In the ancient times (when the church and state were virtually a single entity) execution was favored as a way of those that went against societal norms and rules.
This has been evident in recent times in muslim states that still practice ‘shariah’ law. In medieval times the Roman catholic church established confinement or incarceration as alternative means of punishing heretics, blasphemous people as well as criminals instead of sentencing them to death. This idea led to the establishment of correctional centers in the sixtheeth century by northern Europe protestants. This idea and practice was meant to offer the incarcerated individuals time to change and repent their evil deeds. This is viewed as the earliest recorded effort by the church to influence societal morality. Further evidence is cited by the opening of the Michel prison (1703) by Roman Catholics under Pope Clement the sixth. The facility was meant for youthful offenders who were subjected to work as a form of rehabilitation measure (Regnerus, 2005).Thus, since time immemorial religion has been out to control man’s activities and habits. This is because its followers have to weaken themselves under its umbrella and follow its dictates. Therefore, religions institutions are among the highly effective institutions of social control-akin to prisons. This is because what religion dictates is not an optional based choice but rather, a mandatory order. However, people have the free will to exercise their wishes as concerns all issues. This freedom is further met with clearly spelt out consequences on what may befall whoever does not follow what the religions dictate to its followers. Therefore, religiously sincere followers are prisoners to the law of the church which subsequently determines the morality of the involved individuals in the society. This seems to be achieved more by fear rather than consent. The followers stick to the edicts of the church because they fear the consequential results of lack of adheherance.
However, this may not be totally true because some individuals claim that they do adhere to the edicts out of love of the law and their religion. Despite the existence of such adheherance, the fact that there may be some individuals that do it out of the fear of a supreme power cannot be ruled out (‘Religion and Morality, 2010).Research findings by Paul S. Gregory documented in the Journal of Religion and Society states that there is positive correlation between specific measures of dysfunction and societal religiosity (Paul, 2005). Though critiqued in the same journal Jensen G. refines and builds on Jensen’s study. After a multivariate, elaborate statistical analysis Jensen concluded that there existed a complex relation between homicides and the element of religiosity. Jensen also noted that some elements of religiosity encouraged homicides whereas; others discouraged homicides. Other studies by Saroglou et al. Kerley et al. and Regnerus and Buedette purport the existence of a positive link the correlation of moral behavior and religiosity-exemplified by surveys that suggest positive correlation between altruism and faith (Kerley, 2005). Modern criminology surveys acknowledge relations of an inverse nature between religiosity and criminal habits (Doris, 2007). Though some people argue that this is a modest connection over sixty of analysed studies conclude that religiosity exerts a deterrent effect on criminal behavior.Religion is one of the aspects of life that are introduced into any individual’s life at a very early stage. This could be compared to language learning in toddlers. Its is a fact that most individuals learn about religion from their parents at a very early stage in life. According to research a child’s memory tends to retain much of what is learned at a very early stage in life. As a result, most religious facts and edicts are held for a very long time in an individuals life and contributes to his character tremendously. Therefore, religion leaves an imprint of character that is not easy to erase in an individual’s life and as a result shapes a lot about how he/she conducts himself in life.
Religion’s negative impacts on morality
Religion is more often than not regarded as a positive influence on morality, however; there are notable cases when religion negatively influences morality. The past’s wars waged in crusades (by roman catholics) and Jihads (by muslims) exemplify the negative impacts of religion on morality. At times religion imposes strong beliefs and dogmas that make its faithful followers to pursue the religions edicts blindly in a manner that negatively impacts the life of other human beings (Bartley, 1971).The stoning of adulterous women to death practiced by muslims in Islam based states is an example of the negative impacts of religion on morality. Though these measures are meant to improve morality; they contadict its natural essence. This action may be viewed as a cruel punishment rather than a correctional measure. Adiitionally, it goes against the societal values that advocate for the preservation of life.Indiscriminate massacres carried out in ancient roman catholic crusades were carried out in the name of religion. These crusades were waged as a means to compel non-christians to join the christian fraternity. However, it is true that they went against human values in society and thus acted as a negative influence on society’s morality.
Additionally, there are religions in society that advocate for immoral and evil acts that do not conform to societal norms. This is exemplified by religions such as the church of satan. These type of religions not only advocate for immoral practices but also supoort the immoral acts of the church’s faithful.The fact that most beliefs in a religion are rigid in their observance negatively portrays the image of religions in influencing the cahracter of individuals. A large number religious people follow the edicts of their faith without a second consideration or thought. This is because most of the edicts in a faith are compulsory considering the fact that they have consequential results that are punishments meant to impose the beliefs (Saroglou et al. 2005).The making of laws and most referundum decisions are at times influenced by religious thoughts and beliefs. This goes against the free human will and society’s natural desires. As a result, religion exalts itself and its stand above the individuals in society. This influences decisions made by individuals in society-though in a negative manner.Conclusively, religions can also be cited for negative influence on people’s morality in the society. Thus, religions influence societal norms and individual morality both in a negative and positive way.
Does morality require religiosity?
The stand of some individuals may equalize morality to religion. Thus, to such people being moral involves strictly following the precepts of one’s faith. In real sense morality exists beyond the confines of faith. As an example the bible say less or basically nothing about the treatment of animals. However, most moral standards are based on the fact that moral acts should not cause injurious effects to other living animals. Therefore, mistreatment or torture of animals may not be stated in any faith’s edicts but but indeed is a moral issue.Individuals in society know that doing any harmful act to another person is not only wrong but also illegal irrespective of the fact that they may be religious or atheistic in nature. The intervention established by laws on such issues renders morality a existent concept without religiosity. Therefore, it is a valid argument to state that the existence of morality is not totally based on religiosity-morals can still exist in society without religion. However, it has to be noted that this is only possible through the use of laws and regulations.It is therefore true to state that religiosity requires morality but it is not necessary for religion to exist as precursor for morality in society. However, religion is recognized as a better ground for an individual to establish his/her morality.The consequence of this fact is an atheistic critique that states that religion lacks utility in the society. Atheists state that religion is irrational and morally deficient because it elavates ancient, ill informed and arbitrary rules to a moral status. This may include what to eat or wear as a religion’s faithful. In an atheistic view these are considered as rules that may have been designed to fit a moment historically and not to be viewed as universal truths (‘Religion and Morality’, 2010).Conclusively, morality can be termed as what the general population deems right and just because it does not violate the comfort of other human beings. According to this view I can conclusively say that morality does not owe its existence to religion. Its foundations are based human thoghts expressed in religion.
Conclusion
Morality is influenced by societal norms and edicts. These norms and edicts are to a great extent established and shaped on the basis of religoius beliefs and traditions. This happens because religions hold an important place in society that is highly valued in terms of ethics. Individuals in society, shape their character and act according to societal regulations, laws and norms. As a result, the conduct of individuals can be termed as the sum total of societal norms and edicts. These norms and edicts are in turn determined by society under the influence of religion. Therefore, conclusively; the morality of an individual is the product of religious influence. This influence is exerted through the laws and regulations of a society.
References
Bartley, W. W. (1971). Morality and Religion. Macmillan Publishers.
Doris, C.C. (2007). Religiosity and Desistance from Drug Use. The Journal of Criminal Justice and Behavior, volume 34, issue number 5, pp 661-679.
Kerley et al. (2005). Religiosity, Religious Participation, and Negative Prison Behaviors. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, volume 44, issue number 4, pp 443-457.
Paul, G. S. (2005). Cross-National Correlations of Quantifiable Societal Health with Popular Religiosity and Secularism in the Prosperous Democracies. The Journal of religion and Society, volume 7, issue number 1522.
Regnerus, M. D. and Amy, B. (2006). Religious Change and Adolescent Family dynamics. The Sociological Quarterly Journal, volume 47, issue 1, pp 175-194.
‘Religion and Morality’ (2010). Religion and Morality: A contradiction explained. Retrieved from, http://www.anti-naturals.org/theory/religion.html, on 1ST June 2010.
Saroglou et al. (2005). Prosocial Behavior and Religion: New evidence based on projective measures and peer ratings. The Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, volume 44, issue 3, pp 323-348.
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