Transcript File - Clydeview Academy Humanities Website

Area 1
Guiding Principles
for Morality
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Section 2
Sources of religious moral guidance
Christian Moral Values
The Golden Rule
HOW RELIGIOUS
PEOPLE MAKE
MORAL DECISIONS
Sources of Religious Moral
Guidance
1. USE OF REASON
• When followers of a religion have to
decide what is right and wrong they use
their ability to think through and reason
about it.
• They try to find out facts and information
about the issue and then weigh up the
possible options before making a decision.
Role of Reason as a source of
moral guidance in religion
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may be used to interpret and understand
scripture and tradition
may be used to help reinterpret scripture and
tradition in new contexts
may be the main guide to help the believer to
understand for her/himself the rationality of the
guidance given in sacred writings
human reason is one of God's gifts which helps
believers to understand God's guidance and the
value of acting in harmony with God's will
human reason may be rejected as a source of
moral guidance because it is flawed or
corrupted.
2. TRADITION
• People who follow a religion follow the customs,
beliefs and teaching of their faith which have
been handed down through many generations.
• However, times change and people have to
decide whether to stick closely to these
traditions or to adapt to new ideas.
• This means that followers of the same religion
may have different moral values according to
whether they stick more to tradition or try to
change to more modern ways of thinking.
• This is why it is possible for different people
from the same religion to have different moral
values about the same issue.
3. HOLY BOOKS/SCRIPTURES
• Followers of religions also use the
teachings contained in their scriptures to
help them decide what is right and wrong.
• These scriptures can have considerable
authority and influence on the moral
decisions of a religion’s followers.
use of reason
to interpret sacred writings
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Reason is used to work out the use of
analogy, symbolism and metaphor e.g.
understand the message of Jesus
parables or the Buddha’s stories
Reason is used to put scriptures into
historical context, e.g. modern
understanding of not coveting
neighbour’s donkey means not being
jealous of other people’s possessions.
4. INFLUENCE OF RELIGIOUS
LEADERS
• People who follow religions often look to
the founders or great leaders of the past in
that religion to guide them about moral
decisions.
• They may also look to leaders today to
help them make important moral decisions
e.g. Roman Catholicism: Pope, Buddhism:
Dalai Lama
Christian Moral Values
The 10 Commandments • The 10 Commandments are found in the Bible's
Old Testament at Exodus, Chapter 20.
• They were given directly by God to the people
of Israel at Mount Sinai after He had delivered
them from slavery in Egypt:
"And God spoke all these words, saying: 'I am
the LORD your God…
1. 'You shall have no other gods before Me.'
2. 'You shall not make for yourself a carved image-any likeness of anything that is in heaven
above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is
in the water under the earth.'
3. 'You shall not take the name of the LORD
your God in vain.‘
4. 'Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.'
5. 'Honor your father and your mother.'
6. 'You shall not murder.'
7. 'You shall not commit adultery.'
8. 'You shall not steal.'
9. 'You shall not bear false witness against your
neighbor.‘
10.'You shall not covet your neighbor's house;
you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor
his male servant, nor his female servant, nor
his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is
your neighbor's.'
Greatest Commandment
• Love God with all your heart, soul, mind
and strength
• “Love your neighbour (i.e.anyone in need)
as you love yourself.”
• Love lies at the heart of Jesus teachings
• Love of God and humanity cannot be
separated and Christians try and live their
lives according to this ideal
A UNIVERSAL LAW
APPLIED TO EVERYONE
Global Ethic
• Benevolence
– Showing kindness to others
• Liberty
– Freedom for all
• Truthfulness
– Living in the ‘right’ way
• Justice
– Fairness, tolerance, equality
"Treat Others As You Would Like
To Be Treated."
• Universal Rule:
“we should act morally as we would
expect to be treated”
• Found in various ancient, modern,
humanist non-religious and religious
sources
• Requires empathy with other people as
part of moral decision making.
Christianity: Jesus
• Matthew 7:12
“So in everything, do to others what you
would have them do to you, for this sums
up the Law and the Prophets.”
“What is hateful to you, do not do to
your neighbour.” Talmud (Judaism)
“Since the self is dear, let him who
desires his own advantage not
harm another.” Buddhism
“Do not do to others which would
anger you if others did it to you.”
Socrates (Greek philosopher)
“Don’t do things to others you
wouldn’t want to have done to you”
Humanism
• Good - consistent, fair, can be applied
anywhere, no revenge, absolute, demands
love
• Bad - no rules, depends on reciprocation,
submissive, religions not very good at
applying it, moral absolute but there are
times when it cannot apply, different
standards of acceptable behaviour in
different cultures.
MORAL VALUES IN BUDDHISM
• Buddhist ethics do not generally speak of right
and wrong, good and bad, but of thoughts or
actions being kushala (skilful) or akushala
(unskilful).
• Skilful actions are based on compassion,
generosity and wisdom while unskilful ones are
based on hatred, selfishness and delusion.
• The main reason for this is that Buddhism
recognises that any action may have different
moral implications or consequences depending
on the circumstances.
Key Buddhist moral guidelines
FIVE PRECEPTS:
1. Not to destroy life (all life, not just human)
2. Not to take what is not given (not just by theft
but also by things being taken from people who
have not chosen to give them)
3. Not to take part in harmful sexual activity
4. Not to speak falsely (not just by not telling the
truth but also by not deceiving yourself or other
people by what you say)
5. Not to take substances that affect or cloud the
mind (alcohol, drugs or anything else that might
affect the way the mind works)