S3 National 3/4

Morality and Belief

Castlebrae Community High School

Table of contents What is morality and moral values. How do people make moral decisions? How do religious people make moral decisions? How do Humanists make moral decisions? How do Utilitarian’s make moral decisions?

Skills you will be using Describe- say what the issue or belief is. Explain- say how or why the issues or belief are the way they

are. Analyse- say what the consequences or implications of the

issue or belief are. Evaluate- Say what the strengths and weaknesses of the issues

or beliefs are.

You will need to return to these skills to understand how to answer questions. All questions will ask you to use one of the skills.

What are Moral Values?Learning intention: I can describe Moral Values.

The word moral is to do with right and wrong human behaviour.

A value is what people think of as important or valuable.

So, what are moral values…

moral values are what people think are valuable, important ideas about what is right and wrong.

Task 1

Write in your jotter..

1. What is a moral value?

2. Can you think of some examples of a moral values that most people in the world agree on? (think laws that most countries in the world follow)

3. Who decides what is right and wrong in the world?

Religion and Moral ValuesLearning intention: I can describe where religious morality comes from.

Religion from ancient times has been the main way that Moral Values have been set.

It was believed that God or Gods are the ones who say what is right and wrong for all humanity.

Even today many people in the world believe that this is where our morality comes from.

For many people throughout history and in today's world, what is right and wrong always has been and still is guided by their religious beliefs. Whether it's doing what the Gods approve of or what they have taught you directly.

Most religious people would argue that morality is firmly grounded in religious belief.

Some go further and say that without religion there can be no morality – but more of that later…

For religious people sources of right and wrong are likely to be a mixture of the following…..

• What sacred writings teach (what they say about moral problems.)

• Explanations of sacred writings by religious leaders. Interpretations.

• How you understand the teachings through your life, like through prayer, discussing moral issues with your religious community, and feelings.

• Your particular tradition- Catholic, Protestant, Baptist.

The interpretation of sacred writings.

In Religions there are usually sacred scriptures which teach the followers how to tell right from wrong.

The problem is that views about these scriptures differ between religions, and even within a religion there are differences of opinion about how important they are.

• Some Christians believe that their scriptures were sent directly by God to those who wrote them down. Therefore, they should be followed closely.

• Other Christians think they are just a general guide because the scriptures were written a long time ago and some of today’s moral problems weren’t around then. Therefore, you have to work out what it might say.

So, you can use scripture as a guide or as a unchangeable set of laws.

So how might a Christian make a moral decision?Learning intention: I can show I understand how Christians make moral decisions.

We have already seen that they use various things to help them make a decision:

Religious writing, holy books. Explanations of those writings. Religious leaders. Religious communities. Prayer Their particular tradition, Catholic, protestant.

Let’s take the example of: is it ever right to kill? Some Christians have been called to serve in a war for their country. They now have to make an important moral decision about whether they will accept this call-up or refuse to play any part in the killing of another person.

Christian A

Your Task.

You need to describe what each of the Christians are using to decide what is right or wrong. E.G Bible, story of Jesus….Explain what decision do they come to about whether it is right or wrong to go to war?

This first one has been done for you as an example

This person comes from a branch of Christianity which takes the Old Testament very seriously indeed. She firstly looks at the Ten Commandments which say quite clearly ‘you shall not kill’. However; all through the Old Testament there are situations where people take part in wars and kill for what they believe is right. More importantly perhaps, God himself seems to support this by supporting one side against another on occasion. In fact, he even kills people himself when they seem to be ‘the enemy’ (he drowns the Pharaoh’s soldiers who are pursuing the Israelites, for example) More than that, God himself punishes the wicked and it seems that he expects his followers to do so on his behalf. It seems to Christian A that the Old Testament as a whole can be used to support the idea of killing others- especially where they are bad or where they are the enemy. Christian A believes that the Bible teaches that war is sometimes justified and so she accepts the call to arms.

Example of what you must write.

Christian A uses the Old Testament and the Ten Commandments to decide whether to go to war or not. She sees that God encourages people to kill and punish the wicked. She decides that it is right to go to war because God would support it.

Now let’s see if you can do the next ones on your own.

Christian B

This person comes from a branch of Christianity which takes the Old Testament with a pinch of salt. It argues that the Old testament is a set of books related to its time and place. While it has many helpful teachings in it, it has to be understood through the eyes of Jesus so to speak. In other words, Jesus came to sweep away many parts of the Old Testament and add his own teachings to it. Besides, Christian B argues, how can you just ignore a teaching like ’you shall not kill’ as it appears in the ten commandments? It doesn’t come much clearer then that after all! The life of Jesus was one of compassion, kindness

and love. He even said that he had come to bring a new commandment – that you ‘love one another’. You can hardly do that while killing each other now can you? Throughout his life Jesus seemed to accept the will of God throughout – he lets God judge people. For this reason, Christian B can see no reason for killing another in war. Yes, it might mean bad things happen, and that evil wins – but God will deal with that. He will be the judge of wickedness. Yes, you might die through not defending yourself, but peace and love are central to the life and teachings of Jesus so you have no choice. Christian B will therefore not be going off to war.

Christian C

This person simply believes that the sacred writings of Christianity are not there to be analysed like some legal document. They are far too complex for that and require a full understanding of the time and place in which they were written as well as the reason for their writing and so on. This Christian takes what he thinks is a simpler approach by just listening to God. He believes that God makes it quite clear what ‘his plan’ is for the world – you just have to listen to him. He simply prays and asks God whether he should go off to fight in a war or not. He does this and becomes convinced that God is telling him to fight for what is right and so he goes to war.

Christian D

He also believes in the power of prayer and on making his moral decisions through faith, but he’s a little unsure that this simply means praying and waiting for an answer. He’s aware that throughout history people have claimed that ‘God told them’ to do all sorts of things – many of which he thinks God would have been unlikely to tell anyone to do. He also prays and listens to what he thinks God wants him to do and he too becomes convinced God wants him to go off to war and do what has to be done. His understanding of Christianity is that it is a religion of love, not of warfare, but he also knows that he should protect the weak when he can. This Christian therefore decides to discuss his dilemma with others in his faith. He believes that God is commanding him to fight, but he wants to check that through with others. He therefore discusses the pros and cons of going off to war with fellow Christians. They study the Bible together and try to make sense of what it seems to be telling them. About this issue. They come to a conclusion based on thrashing out the different views and possibilities about what to do which the Bible seems to propose. Christian D eventually decides that warfare is not the solution and refuses to go to war.

Well done you have completed your first lesson on Moral Values.

Next, we need to understand how Buddhists make moral decisions.

Buddhism is a unique religion.

Do you know why?