RE: As a nonreligious person, where do you get your moral guidance?
October 16, 2022 at 12:20 pm
(This post was last modified: October 16, 2022 at 12:28 pm by The Grand Nudger.)
Religions can't start out with bodies of beliefs that are not moral, as a religion is the shared normative code of a given community as they relate to the sacred and the taboo.
There's a fair chance that much of what people consider to be religious is more accurately categorized as superstition - these beliefs are neither explicitly religious nor do they need to be a moral proposition. It's a superstition, for example..that a demi-god rose from the dead. Religious beliefs that could arise from or be buttressed by that superstition, otoh, would describe what that meant for you with respect to a good life.
In this light, we might be able to see why searching for the source or origin of moral codes in religion is folly. Religions arise out of and serve moral communities, and moral communities arise from human intelligence and sociability. Ultimately, religions are highly local and thematic commentaries on our preexisting and ever changing idea of right or good living.
There's a fair chance that much of what people consider to be religious is more accurately categorized as superstition - these beliefs are neither explicitly religious nor do they need to be a moral proposition. It's a superstition, for example..that a demi-god rose from the dead. Religious beliefs that could arise from or be buttressed by that superstition, otoh, would describe what that meant for you with respect to a good life.
In this light, we might be able to see why searching for the source or origin of moral codes in religion is folly. Religions arise out of and serve moral communities, and moral communities arise from human intelligence and sociability. Ultimately, religions are highly local and thematic commentaries on our preexisting and ever changing idea of right or good living.
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