do you get your morals from religion?

[daiman]

Meta,

As Muslims, we do not believe or should not believe, that morals are relative. They are universal and do not change.

The US, Canada and UK law are based on Christianity, their big law is derived from Christianity and that is why we find many things in agreement. But we do not agree the laws of homosexuality or lving together etc. They became lose and want to break the chain of religious morality so they can fly with the monkeys. We cannot agree with them at this point. So, no Morality is not relative thing.

[ManD333q]

Morality is codes of conducts put forward by society. every society has their own understanding of what is moral and immoral. But most societies base their morals on religion, so even though your friend is atheist he grew up i a society with christian understanding of morality.
another thing is morality is very changeable and has a lot of exceptions. f.ex a man kills another man he is called murder and gets punished but if he is in a war and kills thousands of people he is just a soldier.

Imaan only strengthens ones actions according to those codes of conduct put forward by society and religion.

[Aasli]

Feeling kinda shitty for putting the girl on the spot like that.

Aasli, it wasn't really my intention to hound you. It's just something like that is pretty common but also very dangerous. It would be much safer to try and not to refer to a source if one isn't too sure.

It's okay I made a mistake and I don't mind being corrected.

But the cat lady and the prostitute was a Hadith so my point still stands.

Narrated Abu Huraira: Allah's Apostle said, "A prostitute was forgiven by Allah, because, passing by a panting dog near a well and seeing that the dog was about to die of thirst, she took off her shoe, and tying it with her head-cover she drew out some water for it. So, Allah forgave her because of that."  (Book #54, Hadith #538)

Narrated 'Abdullah bin 'Umar: Allah's Apostle said, "A woman was tortured and was put in Hell because of a cat which she had kept locked till it died of hunger." Allah's Apostle further said, (Allah knows better) Allah said (to the woman), 'You neither fed it nor watered when you locked it up, nor did you set it free to eat the insects of the earth."  (Book #40, Hadith #553)

You can't rely on religion to be moral it depends on the individual. Realious people can do terrible and immoral things. Atheists can do good and moral things. And vice versa it all depends on the individual and they way they were raised.

[Hyperactive]

"mine" i got it from my conscious, i dont deny my religion belives, family values and society shaped my morality. what is morality generally depends what is to "you".

[Alchemist]

Morality is from religion.

[Aasli]

Morality is from religion.

What about religions that preach immorality? Or are we exclusively discussing Islam here? Because there are plenty of religions that came before Islam which taught extremely immoral behavior. Like sacrificing virgin girls to appease their God. What will happen to those people since they did not have anyone to tell them what they were doing was wrong?

[blitzkrieg]

do you get your morals from religion?

Personally, no.

[mody21]

Morality is a conscious limitation that humans place upon themselves based on emotional or ideological interpretation of their action and the affects of those actions.

[Alphanumeric]

first of all morality is a religious concept, so yes it came from religion or maybe just identified by religion, in the event that it is a intrinsic property in humans, in any case it is still reinforced by religion. another thing, one must understand that having morals means adhering to fixed key principles, a constant if you like. Now the only thing we know for sure is constant by our limited definition is our creator, the one who created us. whether the creator gave us morality(fixed set of principles) through religion or we were created with it and that it is a intrinsic part of us, that is a interesting discussion, but it still means it came from the creator.

there really aren't any other constants, everything else is changing and is susceptible to change, what ever form of social construct you can think of is can be changed and therefor cannot parent a constant hence morals.



obviously if your one of those people who believe in the idea "that morality changes" or dynamic morality if you like, then you are faced with a paradox since you are saying something that is suppose to be constant changes with time. which means tomorrows immoral was yesterdays moral and vice versa, as social evolution as well as time is continuous you will be fluctuating between being moral and immoral. of course your willingness to accept such paradoxical concept would deem you immoral from the very beginning even if some of your conduct at a given time is moral.

There are too many things wrong with this post.

If morality is a religious concept, are atheists/agnostics (or anyone who doesn't adhere to religion) immoral by default? If one is deemed immoral, whose morality is the yard stick?

I think this is a pointless discussion, which really doesn't go anywhere.

morals are relative and if you think agnostics or atheists are not simply because they dont believe in intelligent being then you wrong. For example, the laws in canads usa uk and all other western nations are based more on morals than religion. I am sure there are a lot of things you would find in their laws that you would agree with in a heartbeat like locking up a child molester. Thats based on common sense and morals not religion. I know religion does not condone it but in thr case of these nations, its does not derive of a religion.

What? I think you misunderstood what I was trying to say.

If morality is a religious concept, are atheists/agnostics (or anyone who doesn't adhere to religion) immoral by default? If one is deemed immoral, whose morality is the yard stick?

Yes for not believing in God.

But they don't believe in a god, so how would they be immoral?

[Adali]

Yes Atheist and Agnostics are not moral, because they fall into the group who believe morals change with time, whiles theist are moral because they believe in fixed principles and their divine source God. haasa ahaatee they are not pure evil, they are just immoral in the sense that they do not have any moral compass, Imagine an atheist who has not been influenced by morally adjusted theist, that individual God knows what he would consider right or wrong, good or bad.

[Alphanumeric]

Yes Atheist and Agnostics are not moral, because they fall into the group who believe morals change with time, whiles theist are moral because they believe in fixed principles and their divine source God. haasa ahaatee they are not pure evil, they are just immoral in the sense that they do not have any moral compass, Imagine an atheist who has not been influenced by morally adjusted theist, that individual God knows what he would consider right or wrong, good or bad.

How is one who doesn't follow a religion, immoral? What happens when someone who follows a religion finds within it something he or she feels is immoral?

[Hyperactive]

im guessing what people doing in this topic is : immorality= haraam. morality=halal=legal=society accepted! the thing is from society to another morality is different.

let me use this example, people who belong from same religion, islam. last year we visited relatives in my mom's town home where 74 years old chief was marrying 13 years old!! i found that is immoral from that old man and disgusting. it was perfectly legal and socially accepted and people agreed is halal marriage!! so morality is relatively and is not always from religion but conscious.

it's what person does it or not, without scares the punishment!

[Avicenna]

Our morals are taught to us by our parents first, then with time we learn from our peers & those we interact the most with. It's simply a code of conduct & may or may not have its roots in organized religion. Culture & shared values, region, history probably influence morals more than any other set of values. And yes, it's possible to be an atheist & have morals. It's just the desire to have set boundaries and could even be innate like motherhood. All mammals share this trait, regardless of their background or even species. The desire to protect, nurture & shield an off-spring, to show them right from wrong, to instill values in them, etc. It's for survival more than it is for anything else. Pray you had decent parents that instilled decency in you & taught you morals. And pray the same for everyone else.

[Tuushi]

im guessing what people doing in this topic is : immorality= haraam. morality=halal=legal=society accepted! the thing is from society to another morality is different.

let me use this example, people who belong from same religion, islam. last year we visited relatives in my mom's town home where 74 years old chief was marrying 13 years old!! i found that is immoral from that old man and disgusting. it was perfectly legal and socially accepted and people agreed is halal marriage!! so morality is relatively and is not always from religion but conscious.

it's what person does it or not, without scares the punishment!

Very true. It is environmental as well. Religion might foster but it all depends on the values and surrounding someone is raised on.

[eliteSomali]

Ok he defined Morality as knowing what is good and what is bad. So to him morality is knowledge. and a specific kind of knowledge, that of what is good and bad. You say autonomous and personal. So morality in Elitesomali's understanding is the Knowledge of what is good and bad for his self.

Am I correct?

Yes you're.

The rest of you: yall need to take into a consideration that this question is among the most controversial anthropological questions of the the 19th and 20th century. so don't expect to answer it, just chip in. There's really no set, universal morals that holds for every culture. Every rational individual is capable of finding out what's good and what's bad,what's wrong and what's right for him/her self.