Ethics and Religion - Essay Example

Ethics and religion Speaking about Ethics and Religion, which are the most complicated phenomena for all people, one should pay attentionto the very definitions of these notions. Religion is considered to be a system of community norms which contain some special beliefs and thoughts about the higher strength. Religion is considered to be totality of feelings (fear, love, honor) which people have to something that is stronger. Besides religion includes the rituals associated with such belief or system of thoughts. The development of religion has taken many forms from different cultures. Ethics is a major branch of philosophy, the study of value or quality of our moral actions. It covers the analysis and implementationt of concepts such as right, wrong, good, evil, and responsibility. There are three primary areas of ethics: meta-ethics (focuses on the origin of ethicality); normative ethics (focuses on the origin of ethical truths and the ways of learning them); applied ethics (focuses on the way of using of the ethical knowledge). Speaking about ethics as about a branch of theology we should pay attention to the fact that theology is strongly connected with the mentality of every nation and with the special features of its religion. Theological history of every religion has a great impact on the way of formation of the ethical norms and categories. It proves that these two sciences are interdependent and influence each other. According to Robert Gascoigne “any discussion of the relationship between religion and ethics has to come to terms with misunderstandings that have developed over the centuries, which Christians themselves are often responsible for because of a fundamentalist use of the Bible or because of other aspects of Christian tradition” (“Freedom and Purpose”, p.38). Modern religious ethics is very various and many-sided. New opposite tendencies and trends are developing in it. At the same time all the trends of the religious ethics are trying to solve the main problem: to make religion acceptable for every person. Adopting religion to nowadays is being held in two directions. On the one hand there are numerous attempts are made to prove that religion is needed for a modern person armed with the scientific knowledge. The range of means for this is quite big. It includes pointing out some religious features from the new discoveries in natural sciences, theories about the varieties of truths. On the other hand, the special trend of religious ethics is social trend, which shows religion as the most important means of society renovation, as means for solving social problems. Speaking about ethics and religion it is impossible to ignore the notion of theology. Theology itself is a science about spirits and God. Theology analyses all the religious features and makes the interpretation of it into a simpler knowledge, it discusses the main religious issues. One of the main tasks of the theology is to define the difference between the religious traditions of every culture, to point out the main factors which determined the formation of the ethical norms in these cultures, to define the reasons of the difference using the historical background of a nation. Beside theological approach to ethics there are also a relativism and foundationalism. Relativism is a world outlook position, according to which all the human knowledge is subjective and that is why it is relative. So relativism accepts the relativity of knowledge and that is why it denies the possibility of complete knowledge. In moral sphere relativism does not consider the ethical norms and rules to be absolute. That is the most substantial special feature of this philosophical trend. That is proved by Robert Gascoigne: “There are a number of reasons for the prevalence of relativism in pluralist societies. Most obviously, if there are many different ethical stances coexisting in one society, members of that society are often confronted by people who think very differently from themselves. Thus they have come to the conclusion that ethical judgments are purely relative, that there is no such thing as "true" and “false" in ethics (“Freedom and Purpose”, p.22). The obvious examples of connection between ethics and religion can be seen in the problems of abortion and euthanasia. “With the rise of Christianity, however, suicide and euthanasia came to be seen as grave sins, and Western medicine rejected the practice of assisted suicide as inconsistent with its basic mission” (“Facing ethical Issues. Dimensions of Character, Choices and Community”, p.297). The various opinions about attitude to death are determined by the different ethical norms and religious features which were historically developed in every culture. Currently, there are many conflicting views about euthanasia. A great majority of people are negative about euthanasia because they believe that only God can take life from people because He gives it. For the same reason, the Catholic church has long viewed suicide as a sin. “Over the centuries Christianity has opposed suicide on five grounds. First, it was a violation of God’s sovereignty over human life” (Facing ethical Issues. Dimensions of Character, Choices and Community”, p.302). Within such a complicated phenomenon as euthanasia it is possible to point out some of its kinds: nonvoluntary euthanasia; voluntary euthanasia. The first type of euthanasia is held when people are disabled to make some decisions about their life. In this case relatives do this. And there is a question: do the relatives have right to do this? Isn’t it a sin? This question is being discussed for a long time but people do not have a single opinion about this. One more problem is the doctor’s ethics. In general the problem of euthanasia has some features of the discrimination issue. So people who are disabled to decide something about their life are discriminated by the society. This point of view is mostly religious. The second type of euthanasia is voluntary and has much in common with the suicide. Though is not always committed by the patient but asked as the injection. There is a fact that people who are suicidal are often given involuntary medical treatment so that they will not die. In conclusion it is worth saying that the problem of ethics and religion is impossible to solve and to come to a certain points. The process of interconnection of these two notions is developing. Works cited: Gascoigne Robert “Freedom and purpose” Paulist Press; 2Rev Ed edition (June 21, 2004) Patrick T. McCormick and Russell B. Connors, Jr. “Facing ethical Issues. Dimensions of Character, Choices and Community” Read More