On matters of morality...

07.11.08

Can a morally conservative person live without a religious framework?
Yes. Morality can exist independent of religious belief.

Does Christianity lead to morality, or the other way around?
Very often, a change in moral values can lead to the adoption of the Christian faith because of their similarities. But one is not dependent upon the other. I can be an unscrupulous Christian or a secular humanitarian.

Do I have to believe in Jesus to believe in truth, justice, and the Golden Rule?
No. The paradigm of Christian thinking, while offering a significant amount of literature outlining common moral values upheld by the Believers, is not dependent upon one's individual moral standing. Morality is spawned by the learned behavior of what is acceptable and what is not.

Example: A boy slaps his younger sister. The sister, shocked and hurt by this act, cries out in pain and surprise. The boy understands this cry to be one of pain and he surmises that the slap caused this pain. He comes to the conclusion that he has caused his sister pain, and discovers guilt for doing so. He learns, through his sister's cries, that slapping causes harm to an individual. But he has not yet learned the moral.

A few days later, the young girl slaps her brother. The boy cries out and feels the pain of the slap. Feeling the pain and reacting with a cry, he learns first-hand that slapping causes him personal harm. It is in this moment that the moral is learned.

The boy connects the pain he feels with the previous pain of his sister. He can empathize with her feeling. Thus, the boy surmises that slapping is a not acceptable behavior because of the pain it causes. He learns that hitting is inappropriate.

Some factors, such as the instant reprimands of a parent (who has learned this moral and feels the compulsion to spread them to co's children) or the retaliation of the sister at the incidental moment, are simply catalyst to the learning of the moral. They only reinforce the negative feelings of pain, guilt, and empathy that the boy experiences. Humans, being creatures who strive to be content and comfortable, work very hard to avoid such negative feelings. In order to avoid these negative feelings, the boy learns that slapping his sister is an unacceptable behavior.

Through this process of guilt, pain, and empathy, the Golden Rule emerges. "Do unto others as you would have done unto you" is a mantra of many people - secular or religious. The concept of only behaving as you would want others to behave can be learned without the teachings of the Christian faith.

Just a thought.

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