Culture and Religion

A world view where the guide for society is based on human nature,
 not on ancient scriptures.  Home  or Topic Groups

Moral Values

These pages are about the origin of our moral values but there is an  interaction between religion, culture and the acceptance of those moral values.
Culture drives religion, though for some people religion takes precedence.
The culture drives the moral values for itself and for the society that envelops that culture. Each culture must deal with unexplainable catastrophic events. If the culture cannot accept the chaos of nature then the religion can impose order on the chaos by assigning responsibility for these events on an invisible supernatural deity. This deity will be given characteristics as needed by that culture, resulting in its mythology to help define the deity. The Abrahamic religions had the Egyptian pharaoh as a model, an authoritarian leader. Polytheistic religions are comfortable with distributed responsibility. Many Chinese religions arose from cultures that are comfortable with the chaos of nature so there was no need for a supreme deity, which is lacking in these religions. The success of a religion requires the local culture to believe in this interpretation.
The Abrahamic religions are driven by interpretations of ancient texts making political manipulation easier. The Eastern religions are different as those cultures accept the inherent chaos of nature (e.g. Tao).
These Eastern cultures define their moral values for their religion, like Confucianism, which has no supreme deity. Christian leaders often claim the Bible defines the rules for society. Sometimes I feel conversations focus too often on Christianity or Islam without considering other religions or cultures. Obviously the Abrahamic religions dominate Western society so they have most influence. However humanity is more diverse than that and the role of religions should not be considered
immutable. Perhaps humanity does not hold its religions accountable but it is important to note the local culture has this power within its political constraints; hence the rise of humanism as something of a religion.

These pages are about the interaction of religion, culture and moral values.  The date shown in parentheses is the date that page was last changed.
Our moral values come from our innate social nature, not from ancient scriptures. The date shown in parentheses is the date that page was last changed.

Right to Life and Gay Marriage. Both topics involves sex. Moral values are the talk after the 2004 elections. (11/18/2004)

Acceptance of Life. How a person's accepts life says much about his/her attitude about life and its adventure. (11/21/2004)

Ethics and Moral Behavior. What is true moral or ethical behavior in light of our true nature as social creatures? (12/05/2004)

Finding a Guide for Moral Behavior. Can a guide for moral behavior be obtained from the established religions? (10/08/2006)

Change Starts from Within. Various problems in society will not be solved by more government control. (03/02/2008)

Morality and Accountability in Social Beings. Insights when comparing other intelligent beings, like chimpanzees, bonobos and dolphins. (10/05/2009)

Family Decision on Abortion What are the social costs when a family cannot make its decision on abortion? (02/10/2011)

Sin and the Ten Commandments Defining bad behavior with the Ten Commandments. (09/02/2013)

Decline in Morality The rich and privileged are the class most likely to lie, cheat, and steal, so when they are in control there will be a decline in morality by their example. (06/22/2014)

Joke about the Bible as the Word of God defining proper behavior. (05/19/2003)

Decalogues There are several versions of the Ten Commandments. (07/04/2018)

Misbehaviors There is always someone responsible for a misbehavior. (07/04/2018)

Here is the list of topics in this Moral Values Topic Group .
All Topic Groups are available by selecting More TG.
All topics in the site are in the Site Map, where each Topic Group has its topics indented below it.

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