narrow the distance between moral ideals and real life through beliefs, practice, stories, rituals, festivals, etc. In the modern world featured with intense globalization, societies become more and more pluralist. Even members in the same society can have different religious beliefs and may hold different moral standards. To deal with the ethical issues across different religions, secular society (Note 1) cannot rely on a single religious authority or tradition as the morality basis but has to employ rational discussions as its guide as far as possible. Therefore, the relationship between morality and religion is no longer as straightforward as in the past. Although individual religions maintain their own moral requirements, secular society can handle common ethical issues through the discussions in a civil society. On different ethical issues, religious and secular societies sometimes stand on the same front but sometimes in opposition. At times, the religious community holds the universal ethical principles and points out the problem of moral issues in society. Sometimes the situation is just the opposite. Secular society promotes universal values such as fairness, equality and human rights. Religion, however, holds on to its tradition and opposes the rapid evolution of morality in society. We can sum up the relationship between morality and religion as not related, contradictory and mutually supplemented. The first two will be discussed in the following. Not related Religions develop and inherit many ethical rules based on their own world views. Some religious people think that religion itself has a higher moral standard than the secular society, and that conversion to religion becomes the basis for following these moral values. Therefore, religion should emphasize its own morality, ignore secular morality, and should even prevent itself from being influenced by secular morality. On the other hand, some people stand in a non-religious position, insisting that secular morality does not require religious blessing. People can think, judge and devote themselves to their own ideals. They can also give meanings to their own life, including leading a moral life. While religion can encourage people to be good, religious morality are not recognized by
narrow the distance between moral ideals and real life through beliefs, practice, stories, rituals, festivals, etc. In the modern world featured with intense globalization, societies become more and more pluralist. Even members in the same society can have different religious beliefs and may hold different moral standards. To deal with the ethical issues across different religions, secular society (Note 1) cannot rely on a single religious authority or tradition as the morality basis but has to employ rational discussions as its guide as far as possible. Therefore, the relationship between morality and religion is no longer as straightforward as in the past. Although individual religions maintain their own moral requirements, secular society can handle common ethical issues through the discussions in a civil society. On different ethical issues, religious and secular societies sometimes stand on the same front but sometimes in opposition. At times, the religious community holds the universal ethical principles and points out the problem of moral issues in society. Sometimes the situation is just the opposite. Secular society promotes universal values such as fairness, equality and human rights. Religion, however, holds on to its tradition and opposes the rapid evolution of morality in society. We can sum up the relationship between morality and religion as not related, contradictory and mutually supplemented. The first two will be discussed in the following. Not related Religions develop and inherit many ethical rules based on their own world views. Some religious people think that religion itself has a higher moral standard than the secular society, and that conversion to religion becomes the basis for following these moral values. Therefore, religion should emphasize its own morality, ignore secular morality, and should even prevent itself from being influenced by secular morality. On the other hand, some people stand in a non-religious position, insisting that secular morality does not require religious blessing. People can think, judge and devote themselves to their own ideals. They can also give meanings to their own life, including leading a moral life. While religion can encourage people to be good, religious morality are not recognized by
1.4-Eng.docx