Do we need God for Morality? [Spirituality & Religion]

Obviously the secular answer is a resounding NO.
But if you're a theist who says "yes", i want to hear your reasoning.

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Ryannnnnn · 31-35, M

No but an argument could be made that religions set the foundations for the kinds of laws we have that were made to somewhat embody that idea of morality. So you can do objective "good" or "bad" regardless but perhaps if they aren't defined into our psyche by the narrative of good and evil then we would still do what we do but not percieve it by those two definitions.

Pikachu

@Ryannnnnn

[quote]an argument could be made that religions set the foundations for the kinds of laws we have that were made to somewhat embody that idea of morality[/quote]

But can the argument not also be made that religions simply draw from moral foundations and include them in their theology?

Ryannnnnn · 31-35, M

@Pikachu It could. I would imagine it was made more consistant from narration and archetypal stories which allowed the spread of those ideas of morality in a more focused channel to a very large populace that otherwise couldn't even read at the time. Thus the effectiveness of story telling.

So you could say that morality was always there, but what i'm saying is the concept of what we think of as morality itself was likely influenced and formed through religions. People have always had those "gut" feelings I would think, but they were likely just expressed through social rules and reactions rather than the concept of morality.

Pikachu

@Ryannnnnn

I get ya. These moral instincts were sort of codified in religion.

Ryannnnnn · 31-35, M

@Pikachu Yeah and then built upon and given more complexity over time. Its a bit of a semantical argument but I think its important to define it.

It just depends on whether you define an instinctual response as moral or whether you think it depends on the actual act of decision made by the person cognitively. I think I lean more towards the latter as there seems to be more merit in making the choice. Its in making the choice between something negative and something positive that makes a positive choice moral imo.

Pikachu

@Ryannnnnn

I agree that it's a moral choice only if it is a choice. It still may be a good action but i think the morality comes from the recognition of the two options and choosing the good one.