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Morality And Religion Chapter Summary

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Morality And Religion Chapter Summary
In chapter four the issue of whether or not morality is dependant upon religion is analysed with respect to many different religious theories regarding morality. The chapter begins by acknowledging that there is a presumed connection between morality and religion. In the case of Judge Roy Moore, an advocate for religion and morality correlational relationship, he asserted that God’s law was as prevalent as the state’s law in his courtroom. Moore was sued multiple times for violating the separation of church and state but each time the people overwhelmingly supported his actions. As a resident of Alabama, Moore had the luxury of a conservative christian voter majority to place him back in power each time he was relieved of his office. With 92% of Americans claiming that they believe in God Moore is not in the minority in his belief that religion is a central part of religion however, there are many issues with the claim that what is moral is religious or Godly.
According to the Divine Command Theory, God alone decrees what is right and what is wrong. This theory begs the question (posed by Plato), is something right because
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Created by the Greeks, the Natural Law Theory states that everything in nature has a purpose. Christians adopted this philosophy by editing the law to state that if something occurs it is because that is what God intended. However, if one looks to the bible to determine what God’s intentions are or even what is natural they will run into issues. For example, if everything in nature has a purpose, that purpose being God’s intention, and the purpose of sex is to reproduce, then abortion is unnatural and therefore morally wrong; yet the bible says nothing to support the claim that abortion is morally wrong. The Theory of Natural Law also conflicts with modern science and is therefore widely rejected with the exception of the Catholic

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