The Invention of God: Morality and Religion

I have recently discovered a thinker who is actually, or was rather, a former Muslim, African by birth, black and a woman. And for those of us who take the time and effort to read, listen and learn about the smorgasbord of menu on the religious table will have, at one moment or another, discovered by now Ayaan Hirsi Ali. On one of her talks she discusses the rationale as to why Islamic induced violence has been a staple of Muslim history throughout the ages and why Islamic radicalism will stay with modern man for quite some time I dare say.

Moving on to another topic, I would be talking today about morality and religion. Theists would often assert that the lack of a belief in god puts into question an individual's moral life. For them, morality comes from religion and the absence of which necessarily implies the too the absence of any moral life, hence, atheists are prone to violence and a meaningless life.

Of course, it would be easy to say that if religion is really a good source, much more excellent source of morality, then the countless wars,crimes, injustices and violence - especially one directed against women and LGBT's, and still more specifically gays, perpetrated throughout history and are actually still being perpetrated up to now in the name of religion and a god in various scales across nations throughout the world were just anomalies? Any rational, sentient, thinking human being will think otherwise, indeed, a religiously based morality is not only obscene, brutal, insensitive and callous, they are at times even inhuman and yes, immoral.

The Judeo-Christian tradition is replete with violence perpetrated against those that it sees as ungodly behaviors. The Bible for example, under Leviticus 20:13 states: "If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them shall be put to death for their abominable deed; they have no one but themselves to blame for their death." Is this the morality that modern human beings really have to follow?

In Deuteronomy 17: 12, it says "Anyone arrogant enough to reject the verdict of the judge or of the priest who represents the Lord your God must be put to death. Such evil must be purged from Israel." Imagine if this were followed to the letter, modern society would be held under the yoke of religious tyranny. There are many other instances were violence is not only encouraged, it even puts the blame on the victims simply because they hold views that are dissimilar to what the Bible considers "moral."

The argument that morality is the exclusive domain of religion finds its absolute death knell in no other organized religion than Islam. As pointed out by Ayaan in the video mentioned at the beginning of this article, the Koran is a book of violence and unbridled brutality, inconsistent with and contrary to, the modern concept of humanism and plain common sense. The Koran (30:21 in Ayaan's video) exactly prescribes for example, how the killing of homosexuals should be done. Is this even morality in the humanistic sense? Is this humane? Just?

Morality is the product of human culture, religion is a product of human culture. In fact, the history of religions is the history of the morality of the places in which such religions were born. Religion itself actually gets its morality in the culture of the place it was founded. Even a cursory reading of the Torah, the Bible and most specially the Koran, one will find the creeping influence of the cultural mores of the people in the places in which those religious texts were written.

Therefore, rejecting religion does not mean a rejection of morality. Morality is the prevailing social mores of a society, and society itself decides its standards. Absolute morality is nonsense, there are however, universal moral concepts like justice, freedom, liberty and respect among others. The manifestations of such moral constructs however, vary from society to society across cultures over time. Religion however, absolutizes a certain moral construct from one period in a people's historical journey.

Jurgen Habermas advocates for an "Ethics of Communicative Action." That is, an ethics borne of reasoning, consultation, dynamic discussion, creative interplay of ideals and experience but always responsive to and ultimately subservient to the fundamental needs of man - the promotion of well-being and the maintenance of justice. That is the morality that is advocated in most part by secular humanists. It is humane, reasonable, democratic and dynamic. It is not hostaged to a rigid worldview of absolutes and eternals but rooted in humanity and caring.

A morality devoid of religion is a morality more attuned to the diversity of the human experience and always takes into consideration what is the best for man, in the historical milieu he is born to and the dynamism that is life itself.