Morality and Religion Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Morality and Religion - Essay Example For example, offering animal and human sacrifices would comprise of such acts of appeasing the Gods. It these early days of religion, Gods were sought after as a matter of survival of the tribe or clan; and religious beliefs as they existed had little to do with morality. Irrespective of whether there was a cause-effect relationship between religious rituals and natural events, it is fair to say that primitive religious practices were done as a matter of survival and morality found no consideration. (Taliaferro, 2006) In wasnt until the rise of organized religion around two thousand years ago that the importance of morality to human lives got more attention. Seen from a theoretical viewpoint, all the major monotheistic religions – Christianity, Islam and Judaism – seem to fall under the non-consequentialist framework. The primary tenets of these religions ordain followers to act, think and behave in certain ways, not on the basis of rationality and logic but for the sake of virtues inherent in them. The immutability of religious commandments have made them controversial throughout history. Given that there is never any unanimous agreement about the validity and applicability of a certain principle under all contexts, it then follows that the non-consequentialist basis of most religions make them inadequate in dealing with social, interpersonal and individual problems. A good example of this point is the raging debate going on about stem-cell research in the United States. While stat istics clearly show that scientific advancement in this area would generally benefit humankind, these projects have been thwarted or hampered by fundamentalist Christian believers who take the word of the bible rather too literally. The same contingency is vehemently opposing the practice of abortion, irrespective of the consequences to baby and mother in the future. In contemporary times, fervent atheist