Topic > The Relationship Between Ethics and Religion

In the 21st century, ethics regarding religious doctrines has taken a modern turn. In the classical period, religion was relied exclusively on to dictate morality, but due to contemporaneity catalyzed by education, beliefs can no longer prescribe social principles. Issues are evaluated and determined based on people's will, social discussion and scientific research. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Religious behavior regarding morality is completely arbitrary depending on the immediate context, time, and people's intuition. For example, in the past, parents forced their teenage daughters to marry mostly older men. Girls were considered a source of wealth because once married they were paid many material things in return. The philosophy was very supported regardless of whether the girl was happy or not. She was supposed to be a submissive, hard-working, law-abiding wife (Harris, p. 307). Although religion does not allow some people to suffer while others enjoy, the practice persisted due to primitiveness, Christianity and education had never reached everyone, and therefore few people knew that forced marriage at an early age age was a sure step to ruin the lives of young people. Child sacrifice is not very pronounced, Abraham only attempted it but under God's direction (Asbury, p. 233). He had been tested for his faith and loyalty to the Almighty. His attempt to kill Isaac proved that he was completely devoted to God. Life is sacred, so a ram was meticulously provided in place of his son. The context verified that the assassination attempt is historic, immoral and never again should we attempt to kill in the name of religious devotion. Nowadays it is a bit profligate to offer human sacrifices, such acts are morally punishable by law. Again, religion forbids incest (Greenawalt, p. 529) but in the past it was only practiced out of ignorance, people never knew that marriage between closely related people could raise scientific complications on offspring. Nowadays people are enlightened and it is not acceptable to carry on such practices. Contemporary humans have every reason to believe in science, it works, and we have adopted it to avoid some social immoralities. It created neutrality between secular and religious beliefs. Assassination, suicide bombings and genocide are immoral efforts actually carried out for political or social self-interest. Inflicting pain on some people for personal gain is permitted throughout the world, happiness for one person due to the infliction of suffering for many is believed to be against social philosophies. Religious institutions that preach doctrines likely to divide people should be carefully investigated and, if proven to be propagating such dogma, disbanded as soon as possible because it is entirely immoral and contrary to divine will. Human being should be taught how to care for each other's happiness in the present. Instilling social democracy (Hutson et al., p. 28) or Maoism would not require much effort and would result in a unity that allows people to work together for a better world regardless of religious beliefs. In case of differences that could lead to massive destruction and loss of life, meditation and discussion between the parties is considered to reach solutions. The question of whether morality is independent of God's command appears to be controversial and, 2(2), 111-130.