Morality without Religion

Abstract

Part of the aim behind my account of moral thought has been to offer an intelligible background against which the issues surrounding the relation between morality and religion can be considered. These issues are often discussed in an adversarial manner. One the one hand, theistic or Christian thinkers will contend that morality without religion is gravely deficient at best, conceptually impossible at worst; on the other hand, atheistic thinkers claim that religion should have no proper influence upon morals and may indeed be its corrupter. Battle is thus joined over the autonomy of ethics: can morality stand without a religious foundation, or is it something that would be corrupted if based on a religious metaphysic? Even superficial acquaintance with the complex issues raised by these questions reveals that this adversarial treatment of them tends to simplify them. However, for purely pedagogic purposes it is useful to follow out the debate between the two sharply opposed opinions. In the course of discussing them we shall see that the truth is more complex than either presents it.