This post explores the premise, stated by Bradley[i], that religion is necessary for morality to have any force. The choice is essentially one between moral absolutism and moral relativism and I investigate the benefits and dis-benefits of both systems. For a morality dependent upon a religious point of view it will be necessary for society to hold a belief and I will look at some obstacles and remedies to achieving this. In terms of moral absolutism, the question of whether God is the good or the good transcends God, will not to be addressed. I will concentrate on the authority with which a moral system functions.
I will take the phrase ‘religious point of view’ to imply a belief in a higher authority, or God.
Moral absolutism holds that moral values are universal and apply to all individuals and cultures. It is proposed, following Bradley, that a morality enforced by a higher level authority, one that would come with a religious point of view, would be far more effective than the authority of a relativist moral system.
Relativist moral systems develop as part of the prevailing cultural framework within which they exist. Sometimes with permissive results leading to practices that would be considered abuses or taboo in absolute terms. As culture changes, between different communities or at a macro level, for example between the modern and post-modernism eras, so a relativist moral system will change. There will be no consistency over time or between contemporary communities. “If [relativism is] taken seriously and pressed to its logical conclusion, ethical relativity can only end in destroying morality altogether”.[ii]
Conversely, the authority of an enduring God would provide constancy and solidity. “If there is cosmic purpose, if there is in the nature of things a drive towards goodness, then our moral systems will derive their validity from this”.[iii]
Fein[iv] notes that hierarchies are a natural phenomenon present in all human societies, and Brandt and Reyna[v] note that God is at the head of a human hierarchy. In other words, God is the higher authority within these hierarchies.
The efficacy of a higher authority to provide the necessary motivation to change or govern behaviour has been recognised in the secular world. For example, ‘Higher Power’ is the term used by Alcoholics Anonymous (AA)[vi], and is also used in other twelve-step recovery programmes, to provide the power to achieve change within an individual that cannot be achieved by themselves.
A consideration that then plays into this discussion is whether to have an effective higher level authority it has to be ‘believed that’ such an authority exists (an intellectual commitment), rather than the moral system directed by the higher authority simply being ‘believed in’ (a moral or existential commitment).
Bradley goes on to outline some of the obstacles to belief, referring to the resistance to ideas of God and personal God, immortality and the conflict between revelation and science[vii]. Noting that these present obstacles, he goes on to say, “we say nothing about the ultimate truth of religion”[viii], but notes that “religion is a doing and a doing which is moral”.[ix] There is a suggestion here, as in the approach of Alcoholics Anonymous, that belief in the ultimate truth of religion, ‘belief that’, is not necessary, but that belief in some form of higher authority is.
The three theistic groups hold that God “is by definition omnipotent; omniscient and eternal”[x]. The origins of these and other properties lie in the ideas of classical philosophy and the later theology of, for example, Augustine, Anselm, and Aquinas. It helps that this being would be almighty (omnipotent, omniscient and other properties) for the imperative to follow moral principles to have some force. (In the case of Christianity, it is also helpful that the doctrine of the Cross provides the opportunity to start again when failures to act morally occur).
However, although there are references within the Old Testament to the greatness of God, (Psalms, Isaiah, etc), it could be argued that these properties are described from the relative human perspective. It isn’t clearly established that God must have these ultimate properties to be God. The alternative being that to be God, God only has to be relatively all-powerful. The Greek Gods were seen as both fallible and of varying power, for example.
To state that God must be omnipotent as a starting point becomes a problem, when the existence of evil demonstrates, arguably, that that property isn't being experienced in the physical world. The many wrongs of religion also present obstacles to belief, e.g. David Hume, “The greatest crimes have been found in many instances to be compatible with a superstitious piety and devotion”.[xi]
Can such a god be believed in and can a post-modern society, steeped in the progress of science and cosmology, then also believe in an omnipotent being? Perhaps the arguments for God’s existence may be more successful if God is not seen as all powerful.
How is belief to be achieved? Churches are weak in the post-modern West and evangelism is not effective, or even acceptable to many.
New strands of theology may provide an answer. The emerging church movement prefers to engage in dialogue, rather than proclaiming a pre-digested message[xii]. Some proponents of Process Theology, which covers a wide field of thought, hold that the traditional concept of God as omnipotent is a barrier to belief as it fails to make sense[xiii].
Perhaps these developments could provide a route to belief in a higher authority in the post-modern western context. Arnaud, Kanyeredzi and Lawrence suggest that, “as a lot of people in the UK have issues with religion, Alcoholics Anonymous’ concept of a higher Power could give its members the opportunity to accept spirituality free from religious dogma”[xiv].
In essence, moral relativism provides a weak system, subject to cultural and societal change, for better or worse. The benefits of belief in a higher authority to provide force to an absolute morality can work, but religion is also subject to abuse.
The challenge then is then how a belief in a higher authority is brought about, and new areas of theology and alternative approaches may be more effective with post-modern audiences.
[i] Bradley, F. H. (1876) Ethical Studies, p.280.
[ii] Stace, W. URL= https://sites.google.com/site/sirhcsemaj1/philosophy/w-t-stace-on-ethical-absolutism-and-relativism
[iii] Stace, W. The Meaning of Life, p 88.
[iv] Fein, M. (2012) Human Hierarchies: A General Theory, p.29
[v] Brandt, M. J. Reyna, C. (Sept 2011), The Chain of Being: A Hierarchy of Morality, Perspectives on Psychological Science, p.428
[vi] Alcoholics Anonymous. (2001) The Story of How Many Thousands of Men and Women Have Recovered from Alcoholism, p. 59
[vii] Bradley, p.280
[viii] Ibid
[ix] Ibid, p.281
[x] Mawson, T. J. (2005) Belief in God, p.51.
[xi] Hume, D. (1757) The Natural History of Religion, p. 27. URL = https://www.earlymoderntexts.com/assets/pdfs/hume1757_1.pdf
[xii] Perry, S. (2003). What is So Holy About Scripture
[xiii] Griffin, D. R. (2004) God, Power, and Evil: A Process Theodicy, p.268
[xiv] Arnaud, Y. Kanyeredzi, A. Lawrence, J (2015) AA Members Understandings of the HP – A Qualitative Study, Journal of Addiction Research and Therapy.
