Religion And Morality And The Divine Command Theory In Ethics

Religion and Morality, and the Divine Command Theory in Ethics To get in depth of how religion and morality, and the divine command theory role plays in ethics and morality, let’s look at the definitions. Ethics is about trying to figure out what people think is right or wrong, and if it is really right or wrong. Morality is the systems, customs, and practices people follow that tells them what is right and wrong. For Religion and Morality, and the Divine Command Theory, they believe that Morality comes from or is shaped from religion (Shafer-Landau 63-74). Divine Command Theory believes that something is considered right or wrong because God says it is right or wrong (Shafer-landau 67). Religion and morality, and the divine command theory claims that morality relies on religion, except that claim is problematic.

One of the arguments to support the first assumption is that atheist without religious beliefs are more likely to act unmorally because they do not have the religious rules to follow (Shafer-Landau 64). If atheist do not fear God and the punishment in the afterlife, then they are morally not motivated to follow morals. Atheist without any religious beliefs will be caused to act uncivilized. An example for the first assumption, many religions say you must not murder and steal. If atheist—who do not believe in a God—have no religious guidelines, then they can act unmorally by murdering and stealing because they have no religious guidelines to them not to murder and