I used to think so, but after living abroad I found out that being moral and beiliving in God are not correlated.
As a matter of fact, I found out that people in the west with different faith and even those who dont have any have higher morals than people in Islamic countries.
I'm talking society in general, ethics there are present in all aspect of thier daily life, yes they have the bad apples, but they beat us in in general.
I don't think it is necessary to believe in God to believe in good behavior and good character. At the same time, I think belief in God helps give us guidelines for good behaviors, and a different way of thinking, opposed to "might making right."
I think it depends on what you mean by "God". God has different meanings for different people.
In my dictionary God is synonymous with 'conscious'; God is that inner voice in our heads that guides us to a better life. In this sense, then yes believing in God IS believing in morality.
Here's a question: Is there anything that the God of one religion asks people to do that the God of another religion considers immoral?
"With or without religion, you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion." Steven Weinberg
Sad to say he is right. Go to west and you find more moral people, go to east you find more people talking about morals! I'm not talking about westerns do when they are alone, drinking, girl friends and stuff, but in terms of dealing with others.
It becomes worse when religious people misinterpret religion, and they see it as a must from God. Then you will have a good person doing a bad thing, because he thinks it's good.
thank you all for sharing your thoughts I really appreciate it. I think I should post my opinion in an update later. I agree with many of your thoughts as it very interesting to see how each person think. I also think its important to measure our differences and accept each others opinion. There is not right or wrong answer here, Each person constitute his own reality
DR Good to see you back! Interesting analogy, so, you're saying that because believers in god can act immorally then believing in god is not necessary for one to be moral. I see where you're coming from.
eshda3wa Why is it necessary?
shosho That is true.
palforce I don’t think they are. Yes I agree.
fashinated Okay, ok are you talking about an ultimate reality, a greater power? If so, is it necessary for one to be moral?
xpat Do you see any difference between virtue and morality?
Well I think you need to read a little bit of Emerson, he is a famous American scholar, Ralph Waldo Emerson. I also think you're an awesome blogger :P
mirror I mean the God of Moses, Jesus and Mohammed.
Good question! This issue depends greatly on interpretation of scriptures. I also think it’s a heavily debated topic.
kila I will and I won't stretch it into 4 long posts and make my readers suffer every time I post something :P
bashar Well said! I got what you said. Sadly it's true.
It can’t be argue both ways but I’m leaning towards no it is not necessary to believe in God to have morals.
Indeed God urges us to stick to morals and maintain a good behavior but do we do it because God says so? Is it the result of our obedience to his instructions? Do we intentionally manifest our faith with the desire to complete it with our morals and righteous acts? What about those who don’t believe in God’s existence and manage to have great morals, what’s motivating them towards such attitude?
Morals are the right and absolute thing in the equation alongside God, the presence of God does not make it more or less right, it supports the fact that this is the right path and justifies them while offering guidance.
We distinctively choose to embrace morals as they represent the pure nature of our creation.
We can’t argue that if someone truly believes in God and abides him then he shall stick to morals as per instructed by God. When we follow such path we are really taking God’s hollow adjectives and act upon them. In all sorts of faiths, God represents those morals even if someone believes that God is the sun. We choose to add such great morals and features to him as a symbol of the absolute and perfect moralities, people wouldn’t choose such description unless they truly know and believe that it resembles a great picture.
Not necessarily God, but more like something (a symbol or teachings) to believe in. Something to invest your faith in. I think the best and only thing to believe in is of course God, but some of the kindest and most peaceful people don't have faith in God. So ilzibda you have to believe in something, but most people believe in God. Did that make sense?
17 comments:
ABSOLUTELY NOT.
It shames me to say that many times in our beloved country it is those who are so called "believers in God" who are the immoral ones.
of course it is.
No.
I know many people who are decent although they do not believe in God.
And I have seen people who believe in God yet they have no morals what so ever.
Salam,
I used to think so, but after living abroad I found out that being moral and beiliving in God are not correlated.
As a matter of fact, I found out that people in the west with different faith and even those who dont have any have higher morals than people in Islamic countries.
I'm talking society in general, ethics there are present in all aspect of thier daily life, yes they have the bad apples, but they beat us in in general.
i don't think its god necessarily..ppl need to believe in a higher power, in an existence, anything..u just need to believe in something
I don't think it is necessary to believe in God to believe in good behavior and good character. At the same time, I think belief in God helps give us guidelines for good behaviors, and a different way of thinking, opposed to "might making right."
So what do YOU think, error?
I think it depends on what you mean by "God". God has different meanings for different people.
In my dictionary God is synonymous with 'conscious'; God is that inner voice in our heads that guides us to a better life. In this sense, then yes believing in God IS believing in morality.
Here's a question: Is there anything that the God of one religion asks people to do that the God of another religion considers immoral?
A while ago I played a short 'game' related to this topic. I found the link:
http://www.philosophersnet.com/games/god.htm
Click on the Game tab above for more philosophical games like it
عطنا خيارات؟
مالي خلق أفكر
"With or without religion, you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion." Steven Weinberg
Sad to say he is right. Go to west and you find more moral people, go to east you find more people talking about morals! I'm not talking about westerns do when they are alone, drinking, girl friends and stuff, but in terms of dealing with others.
It becomes worse when religious people misinterpret religion, and they see it as a must from God. Then you will have a good person doing a bad thing, because he thinks it's good.
thank you all for sharing your thoughts I really appreciate it. I think I should post my opinion in an update later. I agree with many of your thoughts as it very interesting to see how each person think. I also think its important to measure our differences and accept each others opinion. There is not right or wrong answer here, Each person constitute his own reality
DR
Good to see you back! Interesting analogy, so, you're saying that because believers in god can act immorally then believing in god is not necessary for one to be moral. I see where you're coming from.
eshda3wa
Why is it necessary?
shosho
That is true.
palforce
I don’t think they are. Yes I agree.
fashinated
Okay, ok are you talking about an ultimate reality, a greater power? If so, is it necessary for one to be moral?
xpat
Do you see any difference between virtue and morality?
Well I think you need to read a little bit of Emerson, he is a famous American scholar, Ralph Waldo Emerson. I also think you're an awesome blogger :P
mirror
I mean the God of Moses, Jesus and Mohammed.
Good question! This issue depends greatly on interpretation of scriptures. I also think it’s a heavily debated topic.
kila
I will and I won't stretch it into 4 long posts and make my readers suffer every time I post something :P
bashar
Well said!
I got what you said. Sadly it's true.
Definitely not
believing is something personal... morality is something you take with you to the public.
whats going on?
Very controversial.
It can’t be argue both ways but I’m leaning towards no it is not necessary to believe in God to have morals.
Indeed God urges us to stick to morals and maintain a good behavior but do we do it because God says so? Is it the result of our obedience to his instructions? Do we intentionally manifest our faith with the desire to complete it with our morals and righteous acts? What about those who don’t believe in God’s existence and manage to have great morals, what’s motivating them towards such attitude?
Morals are the right and absolute thing in the equation alongside God, the presence of God does not make it more or less right, it supports the fact that this is the right path and justifies them while offering guidance.
We distinctively choose to embrace morals as they represent the pure nature of our creation.
We can’t argue that if someone truly believes in God and abides him then he shall stick to morals as per instructed by God. When we follow such path we are really taking God’s hollow adjectives and act upon them. In all sorts of faiths, God represents those morals even if someone believes that God is the sun. We choose to add such great morals and features to him as a symbol of the absolute and perfect moralities, people wouldn’t choose such description unless they truly know and believe that it resembles a great picture.
not necessarily.. lilasaf =/
Not necessarily God, but more like something (a symbol or teachings) to believe in. Something to invest your faith in. I think the best and only thing to believe in is of course God, but some of the kindest and most peaceful people don't have faith in God. So ilzibda you have to believe in something, but most people believe in God. Did that make sense?
Nope, the atheists I know have more morals than some who do believe in a god
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