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The Relationship Between Morality and Religion in the Dalai Lama and John Pope Ii Perspective Essay Example

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The Relationship Between Morality and Religion in the Dalai Lama and John Pope Ii Perspective Essay Example
The Relationship Between Morality and Religion In the Dalai Lama and John Pope II Perspective

The complexities on the issue of the relationship between religion and morality is intriguing in the sense that there is no right or wrong answer, but merely your own intrinsic belief. The 14th Dalai Lama, spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhists, believes that you can't have religion without morals, but you can have morals without religion. This seems to contrast with the view of John Paul II, in the sense that he passionately believes that moral truth is governed by only God himself. “To ask about the good, in fact, ultimately means to turn towards God, the fullness of goodness." In this Encyclical letter, Veritatis splendor, John Paul II emphasizes that morality is synonymous with belief in religion and faith to God. The reasoning for the fine line between religion and morality for John Paul II is divergent to the Dalai Lamas. John Paul II believes that religion is primarily focused on worshipping God and the reinstitution of moral relationships between God and man. The thoughts between religion and morality to the Dalai Lama is that religion is something we can do without, but we cannot do without basic spiritual qualities. A term that the Dalai Lama frequently interchanges with morality is ethics. He emphasizes that spirituality for ethics is needed because they are inextricably linked.
In Ethics for the New Millennium, the Dalai Lama belabors on spirituality versus religion and the foundations of ethical practice itself. Religion, which is what John Paul II adheres to, is the practice of faith claims and salvation, the supernatural, and metaphysical reality. On the contrary, spirituality is directed to the inner workings of your soul which manifest happiness for yourself and others. Contrasting to John Paul II's beliefs, the Dalai Lama denotes that the issue of binding right and wrong to religion is that people will then question, “which religion” is the right

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