Introduction
The interrelation between religion and morality is one of the oldest philosophic and theological topics known to humanity. People pondered the question of how religion is important to morality since Ancient times. For instance, Socrates famously inquired whether God loved goodness because it was good or whether goodness was good because the Gods loved it (McKay & Whitehouse, 2015). This example alone suffices to demonstrate that some of the brightest minds in human history considered the connection between religion and morality carefully. The fact that discussion still goes on testifies to the importance and complexity of the issue rather than the lack of effort in clarifying it.
Even though the ambitious goal of defining how religion influences morality precisely elides the scholars as of yet, comparing moral principles of different religions to gain ethical insight is still a promising approach. This paper examines the moral core of the teaching of two major religions, namely, Christianity and Islam, and highlights some differences between how these two approach morality. While Christianity takes a deontological approach and relies on prescribing clear rules for its followers, Islam leans closer to virtue ethics and stresses the importance of developing a good character.
Definition of Terms
Before discussing how Christianity and Islam approach moral norms and, thus, influence the morality of those who adhere to these religions, it is necessary to define the basic terms of this discussion. In the course of this paper, religion refers to a worldview that shares four essential characteristics. These are: holding beliefs about transcendent entities, having self-transcendent experiences, mainly through rituals, affiliating with a particular tradition or community, and subscribing to certain moral norms (McKay & Whitehouse, 2015).
While none of these traits is exclusive to religion alone, the four of them combined are an indication of convictions one may classify as religious. As for morality, this paper defines it as a set of principles distinguishing right from wrong and setting a code of proper conduct for a given community, in this case – the followers of a particular religion. Thus, the problem discussed in this paper is how Christianity and Islam define moral and immoral for the communities of their followers.
Christianity and Morality
The Ten Commandments constitute the core of Christian morality and define proper behavior in two major areas: one’s relation to God and one’s interactions with other people. Those Commandments that cover one’s relations with people mainly focus on preventing harm, whether through murder theft, adultery, or disrespectful attitudes. However, these are common for Judaism and Christianity alike. Thus, if one looks for a core principle of Christian morality specifically, one should focus on the Sermon on the Mount from the Gospel of Matthew.
The Sermon contains a number of ethical teachings from Jesus, and its central premise is known as the Golden Rule: do as you would be done (Syreeni, 2017). The Golden Rule has been widely recognized as the essence of Christian morality and even as “the finest statement of humanity’s highest moral aspirations” (Syreeni, 2017, p. 140). To summarize, Christian morality not only makes a rule of treating others as one would like to be treated but also sanctions this rule with the highest authority of Jesus.
It is easy to note that the Christian approach to morality is deontological in nature. Regardless of whether one looks at the Ten Commandments or the Sermon on the Mount, Christian moral teachings rely on setting rules and prescribing codes of conduct. As far as Christianity is concerned, the ethical value of a given action is inherent in its very nature and defined by the firm principles rather than dependent on the circumstances.
The parts of the Scripture that are often considered a “shorthand for the Christian way of life” are prescriptions of what actions are either advisable or forbidden to a good believer (Syreeni, 2017, p. 140). Thus, Christian morality concentrates heavily on what one should and should not do, adopting a deontological approach and assigning ethical value to different actions based on the religion’s moral principles.
Islam and Morality
Analyzing Islamic morality is a more complicated task than discussing the Christian one due to the relative lack of coverage in the philosophical literature. As Leaman (2019) points out, Islamic philosophical tradition offers exhaustive accounts of ontology, metaphysics, and law, but rarely covers moral issues. The concept of law is of crucial importance for Muslims, but, even though the law and morality are interrelated and mutually reliant on each other in Islam, they are not synonymous (Leaman, 2019). Still, there are parts of Muhammad’s teachings that offer essential insights into Islamic morality.
Qur’an challenges Muslims with being the best community of people by pursuing justice, avoiding evil, and, above all, believing in God. These duties are not too different from the Christian Commandments, but then Islam takes a different turn. Islamic morality notes that a person’s character is the means by which the people “set out to find… how to behave” (Leaman, 2019, p. 157). Thus, developing a good character becomes a central notion of Islamic morality and a necessary prerequisite of being a moral person. The importance of this notion is evident in the fact that Qur’an consistently describes Muhammad as having an excellent character.
The Prophet is virtuous not merely because he knows what is moral and employs this knowledge, but because he “incorporates the character traits of God” as fully as a human being possibly can (Leaman, 2019). Islamic morality focuses not so much on the intellectual knowledge of what is moral, but on a person’s ability to make moral choices and persist with them.
Just as Christian morality is inherently deontological, the morality of Islam leans more heavily toward virtue ethics. Islamic morality rests on the premise that it is not enough to know what is right – one should also possess the strength of character to make a good decision and follow it. Thus, while the core of Christian morality is prescribing certain actions as good, Islam concentrates more on promoting and developing personality traits, which, by their very nature, should be conclusive to moral behavior.
Examples of Moral Impact
Evidence suggests that religious concepts of morality have a direct impact on people’s behavior. For instance, numerous studies show that the people who display higher indications of religiosity “reliably report more helping behaviors, such as charitable donations” (McKay & Whitehouse, 2015, p. 458). Since these studies do not limit themselves to either Christianity or Islam, they are, to a degree, characteristic of both. Their results suggest that prescribing helpful behavior as a religious moral rule promotes it in the believers. They also suggest that the emphasis on developing a good character makes people more likely to engage in helping behaviors.
Conclusion
The issue of religious influence on morality is far too complex to cover exhaustively in a single paper. The argument about whether and how religion is important for morality is at least as old as the classical works of Western philosophy and is unlikely to be solved any time soon. Still, it is possible to analyze the core teaching of some major religions as they pertain to morality to make meaningful comparisons. Christianity seeks to influence moral behavior by setting codes of proper conduct, such as the Ten Commandments or the Golden Rule. Islam does not forego rules but focuses on developing good character conclusive to moral actions. Thus, both religions ardently seek to promote morality among their followers, but while Christianity prefers a deontological approach, Islam leans toward virtue ethics.
References
Syreeni, K. (2017). The Sermon on the Mount: Christian or universal ethics? In Luomanen, P., Pessi, A. B., & Pyysiäinen, I. (Eds.), Christianity and the roots of morality: Philosophical, early Christian, and empirical perspectives (140-161). Brill.
Leaman, O. (2019). Islam and morality: A philosophical introduction. Bloomsbury Academic.
McKay, R., & Whitehouse, H. (2019). Religion and morality. Psychological Bulletin, 14192), 447-473.