Does Religion Have A Corner On Moral Values?

Reading this editorial in the NY Times, I was reminded of an idea that occurred to me sometime ago: why do moral values = religion? It is of course my contention that they don't, which is well illustrated in the article, but perhaps even more so by the pedophilia in the Catholic church and the other sex/money scandals involving prominent evangelists. But after the last election, which was supposedly decided by "values voters," the media in general equated them with religious people.

Personally, some of the most moral people I know have nothing to do with religion. They simply care about other people, animals and the earth, and act accordingly. Religious people generally favor "traditional" values, which is all well and good as long as profession of those values is not simply a cover for behavior in direct contradiction of those values.

Comments

Anonymous said…
This is perhaps obvious, but I also think that one of the original reasons for creating religions with their commandments and dictates was to bring morality to the masses, and essentially become a mechanism for controlling the population, and helping people resist their basest urges. So now that it has served that purpose, can we let religion go to its overdue death?
February 11, 2009 at 12:31:00 PM EST
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