On many, if not most things, religious people indeed do not actually get their morals from their holy book or what their religion teaches, or else the world would be a far, far more violent place. They get their morals the same place we all do, our society.
However:
I think the gay issue is a perfect example of how sometimes religious fold do not think about an issue, but simply go with some version of because their religion told them so. There is no reason to view that behavior as immoral, when using reason, and even Jesus has absolutely nothing bad to say about it, but because it's there in the Old Testament, right next to rules about divorce, tattoos, and wearing mixed fibers, it's for some reason a big no-no, even though the preceding and following rules are largely ignored. So we can see that most are willing to, very reasonably, set aside most of their holy book, realizing that it is in fact irrelevant, while cherry picking out rules that, really, their fellow religious people and leaders tell them to go ahead and still enforce.
Looking back on the 60's, we can see that a lot of Christians were ready and willing to accept black people into society as equals. But many were also using their bibles to attempt to prevent that.
So I would say is that more accurately, religion provides the means for a certain portion of the population, who would fight it anyway I'm sure, but with religion it provides them what they see as the moral and righteous high ground to attempt to stifle moral evolution.
However:
I think the gay issue is a perfect example of how sometimes religious fold do not think about an issue, but simply go with some version of because their religion told them so. There is no reason to view that behavior as immoral, when using reason, and even Jesus has absolutely nothing bad to say about it, but because it's there in the Old Testament, right next to rules about divorce, tattoos, and wearing mixed fibers, it's for some reason a big no-no, even though the preceding and following rules are largely ignored. So we can see that most are willing to, very reasonably, set aside most of their holy book, realizing that it is in fact irrelevant, while cherry picking out rules that, really, their fellow religious people and leaders tell them to go ahead and still enforce.
Looking back on the 60's, we can see that a lot of Christians were ready and willing to accept black people into society as equals. But many were also using their bibles to attempt to prevent that.
So I would say is that more accurately, religion provides the means for a certain portion of the population, who would fight it anyway I'm sure, but with religion it provides them what they see as the moral and righteous high ground to attempt to stifle moral evolution.
“Eternity is a terrible thought. I mean, where's it going to end?”
― Tom Stoppard, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead
― Tom Stoppard, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead
