Religion and Morality

Religion and morality jointly show the relationship between morals and religious views. Determining what’s right and wrong is usually important in every religion. Every religion must have some values to guide its followers. Religion and morality don’t mean the same. Even when religion may depend on morality and develop together with morality, morality does not depend upon religion. By considering the concepts and principles, religion and morality are two different types of value systems. According to some people, religion and morality may overlap. Let’s take a look at religion and morality in brief.

Religion

Religion is defined as the cause, principle or system of beliefs practised with ardour and faith. Religion includes the beliefs, practices, and attitudes that connect human beings to sacred realities or supernatural agencies.

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Morality

Morality is a subject matter that tells us what’s right or wrong. It has usually been taken as a way of maintaining the conduct of individuals in communities.

Relation between religion and morality

There are many types of religious values. Frameworks such as utilitarianism, humanism, and others with secular values work together with religion. Modern monotheistic religions define what’s right and wrong by the rules and laws set forth by their gods, which their respective religious leaders interpret within the respective faith, such as Islam, Christianity, and Judaism. Polytheistic religious traditions are less absolute. In Buddhism, the individual’s intentions and circumstances determine whether an action is right or wrong.

Stephen Gaukroger explains the relation of religion and morality: “Religion provided the unique basis for morality and that without religion, there could be no morality as assumed in the 17th century.”

The assertion by Pierre Bayle related to religion and morality: “Morality can just have religion as necessary or sufficient.”

The Christian Ethics Dictionary of Westminster (Modern Source) says: Religion and morality are the same or cannot be separated from the thoughts of most religious people; for them, either morality is a section in their religion or religion is morality. While others are non-religious, religion and morality are distinct and separable; religion may have moral or do not have moral. Some people find religion and morality to be separable and different.

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Machiavelli’s views on religion and morality

Machiavelli was born in 1469 in Florence. He was Secretary and Second Chancellor to the government, which ultimately means his involvement in foreign affairs and European affairs in an age of profound political turbulence, violence, and political skullduggery was intense.

His book, The Prince, explains his view on morality in politics. In this book, Machiavelli states that “The city must be loved by the prince more than his soul.” If he aims to love his city fully, he must “learn how not to be good”. To understand why Machiavelli thought that a city needs a prince to undergo a new kind of education before he becomes an effective leader, one needs to grasp what is meant by evil in politics. Machiavelli seems to be the first person to think that the reality of evil in politics is inescapable. Instead of trying to resist it, a prince should, at certain points, work with the grain of politics rather than attempt to resist it for a larger reason to fulfil his moral aims.

Machiavelli’s views on religion: For him, religion was necessary for man’s social life and the health and prosperity of the state. The influence it wielded over political life in general within a state made it important. It was never an end in itself. Princes and rulers used it as a political tool with care. Religion is good only if it brings peace and order leading to good fortune and success. Machiavelli had a strictly utilitarian attitude towards religion. According to him, religion was a social force with no spiritual connotation. He admired qualities like courage, fortitude, vitality, self-assertiveness, intelligence, ambition, fame, and strength, which every religion should advocate.

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Conclusion

Religion and morality do not always come together. People with different religions may have their religious morals, which may be wrong, but they follow them anyway. On the other hand, some religions work on morals. Rightfulness comes first because their religion teaches them that morality exists first and can’t be defined in a specific frame. Also, from the discussion above, we understand Machiavelli’s views on religion and morals. According to him, every religion should build morals and ethics in its followers. Also, he states that following morals is not possible in some cases.