Religion and Morality (Claremont Studies in the Philosophy of Religion)

Reflection on religion inevitably involves consideration of its relation to morality. When great evil is done to human beings, we may feel that something absolute has been violated. Can that sense, which is related to gratitude for existence, be expressed without religious concepts? Can we express central religious concerns, such as losing the self, while abandoning any religious metaphysic? Is moral obligation itself dependent on divine commands if it is to be objective, or is morality not only independent of religion but its accuser if God is said to allow horrendous evils? In any case, what happens to the absolute claims of religion in what is, undeniably, a morally pluralistic world? . These are the central questions discussed by philosophers of religion and moral philosophers in this collection. They do so in ways which bring new aspects to bear on these traditional issues. Front Matter....Pages i-xix Front Matter....Pages 1-1 Is Religion an Infantile Morality?....Pages 3-38 Reply: Morality, Humanity and Historicality: Remorse and Religion Revisited....Pages 39-55 Front Matter....Pages 57-57 The Concept of a Divine Command....Pages 59-80 Reply: Moral Duty and God: A View from the Left....Pages 81-103 Front Matter....Pages 105-105 Evil and the God-Who-Does-Nothing-In-Particular....Pages 107-131 Reply: Redeeming Sorrows....Pages 132-148 Front Matter....Pages 149-149 Relativism about Torture: Religious and Secular Responses....Pages 151-170 Reply: Ethical Universality and Ethical Relativism....Pages 171-187 Front Matter....Pages 189-189 Ethics Post-Zen....Pages 191-211 Reply: Before ‘Post-Zen’: A Discussion of Buddhist Ethics....Pages 212-231 Front Matter....Pages 233-233 Atheism and Morality....Pages 235-249 Reply: Nietzsche, Kierkegaard and Anscombe on Moral Unintelligibility....Pages 250-298 Front Matter....Pages 299-299 Voices in Discussion....Pages 301-349 Back Matter....Pages 351-355