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Does a lack of a religious foundation diminish ethics?

by Andrea D. Hutchinson

Created on: September 29, 2008

Ethics is a questionable concept these days. There seems to be no real guidelines that society accepts in regard to ethics, morals and values. With out a foundation, ethics are left up to the individual or group to maintain. Left to human limitations ethics becomes shaded and biased, not ethical at all.

Others will argue that being "a good person" does not require a foundation, religious or otherwise. However, one must ask what then is considered "good"? If one does not follow a foundational criteria for good, how then does one measure it? So we must deduce that a foundation is required.

Therefore what foundation is the true foundation? Is it religion, society, or science?

When researching the origin of ethics, continually the source that came up first, was science, no matter how it was worded. Specifically a Darwinist theme of ethics. We all know the concept, the survival of the fittest and the theory of the evolution of man. So the question is how does something become ethical when its foundation is defined by those who are considered to be stronger?

What about the alternate view, does it then become invalid? It appears that if it is not simply invalidated, it is just put to the side. Considered the weaker view, by decision of the stronger presence.

Sounds like tyranny, doesn't it. Tyranny is defined as a government in which absolute power is vested in a single rule [r].

In his 1943 work, Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis says at the end of the first chapter, " First, that human beings, all over the earth, have this curious idea that they ought to behave in a certain way, and cannot really get rid of it. Secondly, that they do not in fact behave in that way. They know the Law of Nature; they break it. These two facts are the foundation of all clear thinking about ourselves and the universe we live in."

He goes on to further clarify the foundation in the next chapter. If any author spent time presenting religious doctrine and concepts is a respectful and unbiased manner it was the great C.S. Lewis, in my humble opinion. Clearly Lewis is stating that we resonate within us a desire to do good things. We innately try to be good, along whatever guidelines are present. This comes from a natural desire to be liked and accepted.

So what is the Law of Nature? Today it is, what was continually found when seeking the origins of ethics, Darwin's Theory. However, our great grandparents knew it to be something entirely different. The Law of Nature was, then, what is now defined as

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