Religion and Morality

Religion and Morality

Since the ancient times of Abraham’s faith and the Greek philosophy, religion and morality have been closely twined together. Religion and morality refer to the relationship between religious views and people’s morals. These different people’s views on morals have been one of the major causes of conflict in contemporary society. According to David Trend, many issues are related to religion and have been at the core of the conflict in the United States. Three of these issues include marriage equality, the different understanding of religion among people and the increase in secular society.

Marriage equality, which is the political recognition of same-sex and opposite-sex marriages, has led to different views of people based on beliefs on religion. As the author of the book titled Elsewhere in America says, “Perhaps the mostvisible site of the religious culture war was the battle over marriage equality…”[1]. Different religions, such as Christians and Muslims, as well as protestants and Catholics, have distinguished and disagreeing opinions concerning equality in marriage, which is legalized in all the fifty states of America.This has affected Christians more than any other religion and hasled to conflict. Despite the existence of the separation between church and state, idealism and realism have created debates in national security, employment equity and immigration, among many other problems.

The second issue is the increase in a secular society in modern society, which has resulted in more conflict between the traditional believers and the current believers of religion. The current generation holds different perspectives from those in the early days, and this might lead to conflicting ideas over a religious argument. For example, the issue of drunkenness, which is perceived as a sin by the earlier generation, might be considered sinlessby the secular society under a different perspective, such as in the case where a drunk person does not disturb others, especially those who do not drink alcohol. This again, has been at the heart of conflict because it lays different contradicting morals on religion depending on what people perceive right or wrong..

Finally, people have a different understanding of religion and what they expected to do in accordance with what is right and what is wrong. A better explanation of this issue is that God means different things in different people. In his book Trend titles this point Surprised by sin and he argues that “While faith oftenis practiced collectively, it is also a highly personal matter for many Americans”[2]. This creates variations in not only how people understand religion but also in how they interpret religious messages. In public policy, amendments in the United States’ constitution help people adjust to the changing world, but in contrast, people are unable to contemplate when it comes to God’s work. This is even made worse by the fact that religious texts often refute themselves.

In summary, the interconnection between religion and morality has led to conflicts in contemporary society. David Trend, who is a professor at the University of California, profiled a number of issues which are related to religion and has caused significant conflicts in the United States. Some of these problems include marriage equality, an increase in secular society due to changes in generations and different understandings of religion among different people.One thing for sure, however, is that ethical ideas vary with religions and an idea from one religion might be considered immoral in another.

Bibliography

Trend, David. Elsewhere in America: The Crisis of Belonging in Contemporary Culture, 1st ed. United Kingdom: Routledge, 2016.

[1]David Trend, Elsewhere in America: The Crisis of Belonging in Contemporary Culture (United Kingdom: Routledge, 2016), 34

2. Trend, Elsewhere in America, 35.