Christian morality
has shaped the way that Western societies think about moral issues. An atheist
who has grown up in Britain cannot in truth say that he has not been influenced
by the teachings of the Bible because Christian ideals are ingrained in Britain’s
cultural background. There is a large amount of variation within Christian
morality with different denominations coming to different conclusions about
moral issues. Christian views have evolved and changed over the centuries, but
at the centre of it is the Bible and its various teachings.
Denominations
There are many
different denominations of Christianity, and each denomination has its own way
of worshiping God, its own variations on Christian beliefs, and its own
variation of Christian moral codes. Here are just four examples of
denominations and their differences:
Anglicans
are followers of the Church of England or one of its foreign
equivalents. The Church of England was founded by King Henry VIII when he broke
England away from the Catholic Church based in Rome. Anglicans allow divorce
and remarriage, and support the use of contraception. Women are allowed to be priests, and priests
may be married. They also believe that sometimes it is necessary to go to war
as a last resort (Just War Theory). Anglicans believe that sometimes
abortion is the lesser of two evils, and the Church of England helped to get it
legalised in the UK for this reason, but they are against abortion on demand:
abortion should be rare, but sometimes it is the best option.
The Quakers
do not have priests or ceremonies, but instead merely sit and reflect on God
and the messages of the Bible. Quakers are pacifists as they believe
that all violence is wrong and in war times many refuse to fight; these people
are known as conscientious objectors and they have been known to take on
dangerous roles as medical officers instead. Quakers also believe that we
should care and look after animals, and so many Quakers are vegetarians,
which is a stark contrast to mainstream Christianity where the view tends to be
that animals exist for our use. The Quakers played a leading role in the
abolition of the British slave trade in 1807.
The Bible
The Bible is Christianity’s
primary source of teachings about God and morality. It is a combination of
numerous religious texts and can be divided into two halves; the first half is
called The Old Testament and it was written by Jewish people before the birth
of Jesus and has 39 books; the second half is called The New Testament and
consists of 27 books written by early followers of Jesus.
Fundamentalist
Christians believe it contains the actual word of God and that every word of it
is completely true; their attitude is that the Bible gives mankind the full
truth about life and morality. Other Christians believe that the Bible was
written by human beings who were inspired by their faith, but that this means
that there are mistakes in the Bible. Those who take this more ‘liberal’
attitude to the Bible may see the ideas of the Bible as a starting point for
morality, but they may also look to other sources of moral teaching such as
philosophy, tradition, and reasoning. They may also ignore certain parts of the
Bible and view them as out of date, perhaps being the product of the Bible’s
human authors rather than commands of God, after all, the Bible directly
contradicts itself many times[1]
and also allows slavery.
The Old
Testament
The Old
Testament contains the Jewish texts written before the birth of Jesus. The
first 5 of its 39 books are what the Jews call The Torah. These were
slowly written by a variety of prophets over about 1000 years. The most famous teachings
from The Old Testament are The Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:1-17):
- Do
not worship other gods.
- Do
not make any idols (graven images).
- Do
not misuse the name of God.
- Keep
the Sabbath holy.
- Honour
your father and mother.
- Do
not murder.
- Do
not commit adultery.
- Do
not steal.
- Do
not lie (bear false witness).
- Do not covet the possessions or wives of other people.
The first four
of these concern how a good Jew / Christian ought to act towards God, whilst
the last six concern how they ought to act towards their fellow men. Most of
them are commandments against particular actions, but the tenth is anomalous because
it forbids a feeling rather than an action: jealousy of others’ possessions and
partners. This is interesting because it shows recognition that it is often our
thoughts and feelings which can lead us to immoral acts.
The Old
Testament gives strong arguments for environmentalism, because it states that
God is the creator and owner of the world, and that we human beings must take
good care of the world and protect its resources. This is the idea of Stewardship:
“The land is mine and you are
but aliens and my tenants. Throughout the country that you hold as a
possession, you must provide for the redemption of the land” (Leviticus
25:23-24). Many modern Christians believe that they have a duty to protect the
world God has created, as Pope John Paul II put it: “It was the Creator’s will
that man should communicate with nature as an intelligent and noble ‘master’
and ‘guardian’ and not as a heedless ‘exploiter’ or ‘destroyer.’”
The Old
Testament also teaches the principle of Sanctity of Life, the idea that
human life is special and is to be protected. Christians believe only God has
the right to end life, so humans should not murder or kill. Humans are special
because “God made man in his own image” (Genesis 1:27). For this reason
Christians are generally against killing, including taking a stance against
abortion, euthanasia, suicide, and the death penalty.
Though there are many wars in the Old
Testament, there are also messages of peace, such as those in Isaiah: “They
will beat their swords into ploughshares and their spears into pruning hooks.
Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war
anymore.” (Isaiah 2:4). Isaiah calls upon religious people to praise God
through acts of charity and kindness, and to set slaves free: “The kind of fasting I want calls you
to free those who are wrongly imprisoned and to stop oppressing those who work
for you. Treat them fairly and give them what they earn. I want you to share
your food with the hungry and to welcome poor wanderers into your homes. Give
clothes to those who need them, and do not hide from relatives who need your
help” (Isaiah 58:6-7).
We can see that
there are many teachings in the Old Testament which are in line with modern day
views on morality, however, there are also many moral teachings in the Old Testament
which Christians today find problematic. The Bible teaches that wrongdoing is
to be punished with severity equal to the crime: “an eye for an eye, a tooth
for a tooth” (Exodus 21:23-25). Those who commit murder are to be executed (Exodus
21:12), and many people today agree with this even though the death penalty has
been got rid of in countries such as Britain, however, the Bible also says that
people deserve to be executed for crimes including kidnap, adultery,
prostitution, blasphemy, bestiality, witchcraft, rape, and incest. Most
troublingly, the Old Testament also states that homosexuals and disobedient
children should killed (Leviticus 20:13 and Exodus 21:17).
The problematic
teachings don’t stop there as the Bible permits slavery and gives rules
concerning the fair acquisition of slaves and how they are to be treated
(Leviticus 25:44-46 and Exodus 21:2-6). On several occasions God orders the Jews
to commit genocide against their enemies, for example, he orders the Jews to
kill every man, woman, child, and animal when fighting against the Amalakites (1 Samuel 15:2-3). During another war the
Israelites are told by God to kill every man in the town they are attacking,
but to keep the women, children, and livestock for their own pleasure, in other
words, to use them as sex slaves to be raped at will (Deuteronomy 20:10-14). In
one place the Old Testament states that if a man is caught raping an unmarried
and unengaged woman then he must firstly pay a fine to her father, and then
marry her, as if she is damaged goods and the rapist must pay the price for
damaging her (Deut. 22:28-29). In another place, however, the Old Testament states
that rapists should be executed, and that if a married woman does not cry out for
help whilst being raped then she should be put to death as well as the rapist in
order to get rid of the impurity (Deut. 22:23-24).
Many accuse the Old Testament of sexism, for
example, Genesis 3 states that women are to be controlled by their husbands, however,
on the other hand it is to be noted that two of the Old Testament’s books are
named after women called Ruth and Esther; Ruth was a wise and compassionate
woman and Esther was a mighty queen.
On a final note
the story of Abraham and Isaac must be mentioned. Abraham is considered to be
the father of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, and he is regarded as a great
man and an example of true faith and dedication to God. According the Biblical
version of the story in Genesis 22, Abraham was asked by God to sacrifice his
only legitimate son, Isaac, and Abraham willingly set about killing his son as
a ‘burnt offering’ to God. At the very last moment an angel appeared and told
Abraham to stop and to sacrifice a ram instead. Although Isaac was spared, the
moral of the story seems to be that a good Christian should do whatever God
demands no matter what. Critics of religion have a great many problems with
this kind of attitude of obedience.
The New
Testament
The New
Testament contains the early Christian writings from the 1st Century
AD. The first four books of the New Testament are the Gospels, which are the
stories of Jesus’ life. Perhaps the most famous teaching from Jesus was his
version of the Golden Rule: “in everything, do to others what you would
have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets” (Matthew 7:12).
This is encapsulated in his other famous pronouncement “love your neighbour as
yourself” (Mark 12:31); we are to care as much for our neighbours and their
welfare as we do about our own.
Jesus taught
that everyone deserved forgiveness if they were genuinely sorry, and
this is the message of the famous parable of The Prodigal Son (Luke
15:11-32). A father has two sons, the youngest of which asks his father for his
inheritance; the father agrees and gives him his share of the estate. The son
goes off to a foreign land and squanders the money, and eventually ends up
penniless and feeding pigs. After much misery he realises his mistake and
resolves to go back home and beg his father to take him back, even if he is no
longer treated as a son and instead is used as a lowly servant. When the father
sees him returning he orders his servants to slaughter the fatted calf and
prepare a feast. The dutiful elder son is angry at this, but his father replies
saying that his son was lost and was dead, and now he is alive again. Jesus
states “There is more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over
ninety-nine persons who do not need to repent” (Luke 15:7).
According to the
Old Testament adulterers were to be put to death by stoning but Jesus believed
people did not have the right to judge each other, only God has the right to
judge and punish people. He said to a
crowd that was about to kill an adulteress “let he who is without sin cast the
first stone” (John 8:7) and the crowd left and spared her. The point is, we all
do things wrong at some points in our lives, so we should not judge others
harshly. If you treat another person harshly for their sins, then you will have
to be judged just as harshly for your own sins. Jesus states “do not judge, and
you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive,
and you will be forgiven” (Luke 6:37). Many people interpret Jesus as being
very liberal here, however, Jesus is still saying it is unacceptable to go
around performing sins, it is simply that we should not harm others who sin,
instead we should point out their mistakes to them, encourage them to change,
and give them a second chance.
The Sermon on
The Mount also emphasised the role of thoughts and feelings and their role in
leading to immoral actions: “you have heard that it was said, ‘Do not commit
adultery.’ But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has
already committed adultery with her in his heart” (Matthew 5:27-28). Jesus
wanted people to be pure in mind as well as correct in their actions, and
continued “if your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away.
It is better to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be
thrown in to hell.” (Matthew 5:29). Arguably this is a hyperbole, an
exaggeration, but it makes his point clear: bad thoughts and feelings need to
be cut away if you are to be a good person. It is not enough to simply stick to
the rules, you need to also have good intentions and a good heart, and this
means getting rid of those drives and desires which could lead to bad behaviour
such as lust, anger, and greed. Another important part of Jesus’ morality is
the Beatitudes, where Jesus praises certain types of people as being blessed,
including the poor, the meek, the merciful, the peacemakers, and those who
hunger for justice (Matthew 5:3-12). This passage of the Bible shows Jesus’
support for those who are humble and downtrodden, rather than those who are
mighty and greedy. In some ways it could be seen as an attack on the Romans who
ruled Israel in the times of Jesus and did so for their own profits with the
use of violence.
Interestingly,
there are several occasions on which Jesus broke the commandments of the Old
Testament, which was one of the reasons for his eventual crucifixion. Jesus
taught that it was important to love and respect people, and this meant that sometimes
it was necessary to break the rules in order to do the right thing, such as
save people’s lives. This is what happens in the famous parable of The Good
Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37), in which a Jewish priest refuses to help a dying
man because the Old Testament says that it is unholy to touch blood; meanwhile,
a Samaritan (a despised foreigner) takes pity on him and saves his life. The
story teaches that sometimes rules need to be cast aside for the sake of love
and compassion, an idea which has inspired Situation Ethics. The parable
also teaches a strong anti-racist message: everyone is your neighbour and everyone
should be treated well, we should not pre-judge outsiders. Jesus also
emphasises the importance of helping other people and ending charity, saying
that whenever you help a person in need it is equivalent to helping Jesus
himself (Matt. 25:31-40).
Many of the
moral messages in the New Testament do not come from Jesus, but rather, come
from the letters of St Paul. Paul was an early Christian leader and
missionary who travelled the Roman Empire setting up Christian communities, and
he wrote letters to various early Christian communities giving advice on how
they should live and worship God. As the Christian faith was expanding beyond
its original Jewish roots St Paul emphasised the need to disregard racial
boundaries and realise that we are all creations of God: “There is neither Jew
nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ
Jesus” (Galatians 3:28). Paul also stated that circumcision was no longer
necessary. It was Paul who said it was no longer necessary to follow Jewish
dietary rules such as avoiding pork (Roman’s 14:20).
Paul emphasised
the role of love in making moral decisions and overcoming problems:
“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not
proud. It
is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no
record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It
always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never
fails” (1 Corinthians 13:4-8). This is a verse commonly read at weddings and
coheres well with Jesus’ notions about love and forgiveness; note that the New
Testament was written in Greek and that the word used for love by Paul was
‘agape’, which can also be translated as ‘charity.’ It involves caring about
others and looking out for their welfare.
Paul
also wrote a lot on sexual morality, saying: “you should avoid sexual
immorality; that each of you should learn to control his own body in a way that
is holy and honourable, not in passionate lust like the heathen” (Thessalonians
4:3-5). Modern Christianity maintains its conservative stance on sexual
relations, teaching that sex should only be performed with a person that you
are married to. Paul stated that homosexuality was unnatural and shameful
(Romans 1:26-27). He is often accused of sexism because he forbade women from
holding any position of authority within the church, indeed, even going so far
as to say that they should keep silent in church (1Corinthians 14:34). Paul
also tells believers to do what they are told by civil authorities, for on his
view governments have been established through God’s authority to better out
lives and protect us, thus, rebelling against your government, even if it is a
tyranny, is wrong (Romans 13:1-7).
A
final point worthy of note in the New Testament is the book of Acts which tells
the story of the Apostles after Jesus ascended into heaven. In this book St
Luke writes that it is wrong to consume blood (Acts 15:29). Based on this
teaching the Jehovah’s Witness denomination of Christianity refuse to take
blood transfusions, even if they will die without them.
Christian Morality After The Bible
The different
books of the Bible were all written over 1900 years ago. Interestingly there
were actually dozens of gospels about Jesus’ life available to early
Christians, and other books such as the Acts of St Paul and Thecla, but the
early Church decided which books to include and which to leave out. None the
less, Christian thinkers have continued to write about their moral beliefs and
experiences of God over the ages, and these bring many important ideas to be
considered.
The Seven Deadly
Sins
The central idea
here is that there are certain thoughts and feelings which ought to be avoided
because these cause sinful behaviour, these being: pride, greed, gluttony,
lust, sloth, wrath, and envy. Pride means thinking too much of your own worth
and thinking of yourself as better than other people. Greed means the strong
desire for excessive amounts of wealth and power. Gluttony is the specific
desire for more food than you need, so it is basically greed for food. Lust is
the strong desire for sex which can lead to promiscuity and adultery. Sloth is another
word for laziness. Wrath is another word for anger and of course anger is a
cause of violence and disharmony. Envy is jealousy of other people’s
possessions and can be a cause of hatred, resentment, and crime. Christians
hold that it is not just how you act that matters morally, but what you think
in your mind, so this has to be controlled by virtues such as temperance,
faith, justice, and charity.
Conscience
In the 4th
Century St Augustine of Hippo wrote on the subject of conscience.
Augustine wrote “love, and do what you will.”
By this he meant that if you are guided by love, and you try always to
do what is loving, then you don’t really need rules to tell you what to do as
you will not wish to harm other in the first place. He also meant that if you
act with good intentions then you will be right with God: you will have
followed your conscience, and so even if you have made a mistake and broken
some of God’s rules, God will understand your actions and know that you tried
to do your best.
Just War
Theory
Christianity
supports peace, with some Christians such as the Quakers even advocating total pacifism.
However, many Christians argue that sometimes war is necessary: St Augustine
wrote: “Peace should be the object of your desire; war should be waged only as
a necessity… in order that peace may be obtained. Therefore, even in waging war,
cherish the spirit of a peacemaker. As violence is used toward him who rebels
and insists, so mercy is due to the vanquished or captive.” This theory was
further developed by St Thomas Aquinas who gave six rules to make a just
war:
(i)
The war must be for a just cause, not for selfish gain;
(ii)
The war must be to establish good or rectify evil;
(iii)
The war must be a last resort;
(iv)
The war must be ordered by a legitimate authority;
(v)
There must be a reasonable chance of success;
(vi)
The war must be fought using only sufficient means.
Aquinas argued
that sometimes war was necessary to prevent evil, but that war should always be
a last resort which is only allowed when all other ways of solving the problem
have been tried. He also thought that you should only declare a war if you have
a good chance of winning, otherwise you are just wasting lives for no good
reason. Finally, wars have to be fought in a moral and righteous manner with as
little violence and destruction as possible: there should be no killings of
civilians or immoral acts like rape and plunder.
Natural Law
Aquinas followed
Aristotle’s idea that we are naturally social animals, which therefore means it
is a law of nature to serve the community and obey the laws, since society
cannot survive harmoniously unless its citizens refrain from killing, stealing,
promiscuity, lying, and so on. Like Aristotle, Aquinas argued that only human
beings have reason and language, and therefore that we are above animals; just
as the body should be ruled by the mind, so too should animals be ruled by mankind.
Finally, Aquinas argued for the importance of knowledge, something which only
humans are capable of and which is needed to help us survive and to bring us
closer to God. The concept of Natural Law still plays a prominent role in
Catholic morality, in particular being at the heart of Catholic objections to
contraception, euthanasia, abortion, and homosexuality.
Liberation
Theology
Liberation
theology takes the view that the central mission of the Church ought to be
liberating people from unfair, unjust, and abusive political, social, and
economic situations. Inspiration for this view is found in the Bible, for
example, in Exodus we find the powerful story of Moses freeing the Jewish
people from their slavery in Egypt and leading them across the desert to
freedom. In the Gospels we find Jesus’ Beatitudes in which he praises and
defends the downtrodden: “Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the
kingdom of heaven. Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the Earth. Blessed
are they who mourn: for they shall be comforted. Blessed are they that hunger
and thirst after justice: for they shall have their fill” (Matthew 5:3-6).
Situation
Ethics
Situation Ethics
was formulated by Joseph Fletcher in the 1960s. Fletcher criticised
mainstream Christian morality for being too deontological and legalistic and as
being too obsessed with strict rules of conduct. Life, so Fletcher thought, was too
complicated to follow the same inflexible principles all of the time, for
example, when you first establish the wrongness of killing as a general law the
very next thing you have to do is consider the exceptions such as killing in
self-defence. The answer that Fletcher put forward is a teleological ethics
similar to Utilitarianism, but instead of being based on the spread of
happiness or pleasure, it aims to maximise the amount of agape in the world,
agape being the Greek word for unconditional brotherly love and concern for
other people, the kind of love that Jesus and St Paul talked about. Essentially
Fletcher was proposing a teleological ethic based on Jesus’ command to “love
your neighbour as yourself.”
Fletcher thought
that in ordinary cases Christians should follow the normal rules of the Bible,
however, in extreme cases these rules could be broken. He gave four real life
examples, including the dropping of the atom bomb on Hiroshima as although it
killed tens of thousands it ended the war and so saved hundreds of thousands
more. Another of his examples was that of a German woman who was taken to a
Ukrainian prisoner of war camp at the end of World War II. She needed to get
back to her family, but the camp’s rules said she could only get released if
she was pregnant. She got a prison warden to impregnate her and was released on
medical grounds. When she returned she was welcomed back by her family. When
the baby was born her and her husband raised it and loved it just like their
other children. Here she has broken one of the Ten Commandments, and yet
arguably she has done the most loving thing for her family. Fletcher is
presenting a Christian ethic with a similarity to Utilitarianism, but instead
based on charity on love. Fletcher insists this is superior to Utilitarianism
because it would never be loving to harm individuals or small groups to make
others people happy. Rather than aiming at producing pleasure, Situation Ethics
aims to improve people’s welfare. Situation Ethics is meant to be about “faith
expressing itself through love” (Galatians 5:6).
Criticisms of Christian Morality
1) Many people
are atheists and so do not believe in God; this means they feel no obligation
to follow the rules of Christian morality and may see Christian morals as just
human opinions masquerading as commandments of God.
2) Many people see
the rules of the Bible as out of date, rules made for (or by) Jewish people
living two or three thousand years ago in the Middle Eastern desert. These people
lived in a very different time and place from ourselves and lacked our modern
science and technology. Therefore, many of these moral teachings are irrelevant
or impractical and require modernisation.
3) The Bible
condones numerous actions which the average person today would regard as evil:
slavery, genocide, the death penalty, homophobia, sexism, etc. If various parts
of the Bible command these kinds of action then surely the Bible cannot be
trusted as a source of moral teachings?
4) The Bible
appears to contain contradictions, for example, the Old Testament condones
harsh punishments, revenge, and even the death penalty, whereas Jesus taught people
to act towards others with love and compassion, and to forgive others, and that
you should not be violent but instead “turn the other cheek.” This means moral
guidance is unclear because it is not possible to really know which teaching is
to be followed. Many Christians insist that where there is a clash priority
should be given to the teachings of Jesus and the New Testament, indeed, some
take the view that the Old Testament doesn’t really count anymore. However,
Jesus himself said that he had not come to destroy the laws of the Torah but
instead to fulfil them (Matthew 5:17-19), which surely means Old Testament laws
still count?
5) The Bible often
needs to be interpreted. In Genesis chapter 1 God tells Adam to subdue the
world and that mankind is in charge of all of the animals, but does this mean
that we have a duty to care for them (Stewardship), or that we are in charge
and can do what we want to the world and exploit it for our own gains
(Dominion)? If the Bible needs to be interpreted then it is unclear, which is
one reason why Christian denominations vary so much in their views.
6) It is common for
Christians to pick and choose between the different passages in the Bible, for
instance, insisting that homosexuality is wrong on account of the book of
Exodus, but ignoring the fact that Exodus also bans tattoos, or ignoring the
Biblical endorsement of slavery and instead focusing on the other passages
which talk about setting slaves free. If people are picking and choosing
between different Biblical passages, then doesn’t this indicate that they
already have moral ideas from outside of the Bible, moral ideas which they are
using to judge the Bible by? If this is the case, then what need is there for
the Bible at all, why not follow a secular moral code?
7) Some modern
moral issues are not mentioned in the Bible at all, such as abortion. In making
decisions about these issues Christians have to extract principles from the
Bible and interpret relevant passages. Biblical teachings about the Sanctity of
Life suggest that abortion is wrong, but on the other hand teachings about
compassion may suggest that abortion is the best option, especially if the
child will be severely disabled or the mother could die or was raped. The
correct moral answer for Christians is unclear, and denominations do not agree.
8) Christian
morality is based on revelation, not on reason and science. In the
Enlightenment period scientists broke away from Biblical ideas about the nature
of the world and instead turned to physical investigation. Similarly,
Enlightenment philosophers sought to ground morality in more human terms, for
example, as a creation of a social contract (Hobbes), or as a product of Reason
(Kant), or as an implication of human nature (Bentham’s Utilitarianism). The
idea was to have certainty in morality, proven moral facts, not just ideas that
apply to those who happen to accept God and the Bible. Thus, is not an ancient
holy book the wrong kind of place to seek a foundation for a modern moral
system?
9) Heaven is not
a good reason to be good. Some critics accuse Christians of only being moral
because they want to please God, or because they want to get in to heaven and
avoid hell. Arguably this is not an adequate reason to be good: surely you
should care for others and treat them well because they, as human beings, have
value and deserve respect, not to get a reward.
10) Religious
people often argue that morality comes from God, and they may also argue that
those who are non-religious are more likely to be bad because they don’t
believe they have God watching over them, or a heaven to go to, or a hell to
avoid, or the Bible and priests for guidance. However, history shows that some
of the worst actions of violence, persecution, and injustice have been down to
religion, for instance, Christian persecution of Jews in the middle ages, the
Crusades, the Spanish Inquisition, and the wars of the Reformation. In today’s
world various acts of terrorism are based on religious motives. How then can we
take a supposed link between religion and morality seriously?
11) Christianity
is accused of being very prejudiced. In most Christian churches female priests
are not allowed, and some churches teach that men should be in charge in the
household because the Bible says that “the head of woman is man” (1 Corinthians
11:3). Christians are in the majority opposed to homosexuality and are against
homosexual marriages being legalised, which again makes the religion appear to
be against equality. For reasons such as these some people criticise the moral
stance of Christianity and see it as too traditionalist, and too focused on
issues such as sex.
The strong will prize
strength, health and courage and will take the opinion that they are better
than other people, and that they deserve the lion’s share of the world’s
resources and power. Similarly, the intelligent will prize cleverness, cunning,
and knowledge, and they will think of themselves as better than others, and
again as being most worthy of command and wealth. These two groups have what
Nietzsche described as “Master Morality” – they believe that human
beings are not equal, that some are of better quality, and that those who are
strong or clever (or both) deserve to rule and take all of the power and
wealth. The ‘masters’ and are perfectly happy to use lesser men in order to get
what they want, to sacrifice them like pawns for their own gains. This moral
view was characteristic of the Romans and Greeks. The attitude can be summed up
in the phrases “might makes right” and “to the victor the spoils.” Nietzsche
regarded this attitude as natural and life affirming, because the strong and
intelligent are able to achieve their goals and to enjoy the life that all of
us naturally crave, the life of victory, pleasure, wealth, and power.
Christian
morality, however, is an example of Nietzsche calls ‘Slave Morality’: it
is the moral view of the weak, of the mediocre majority. They would love to
have power and wealth, but they lack the skills and strength and intelligence to
achieve these things, so they are jealous of the rich and powerful and they
come to hate them instead of admire them; the mediocre wish to bring the rich
and powerful down to their own pitiful level. For example, Nietzsche would say
that most men want multiple wives and lovers; in the ancient world strong,
intelligent, and rich men would be able to have many women, but this meant that
lesser men could end up with few or none. Out of jealousy, and in order to
ensure access to women for themselves, the lesser men declare that people
should only have one partner, and that the desire for many partners is sinful
and evil: a central view in Christian morality. The idea of ‘sour grapes’ comes
in here; one of Aesop’s fables tells about a fox who was thirsty and wanted
some grapes, but found they were out of reach; the fox decided that he didn’t
want them in the first place as they must be sour. Similarly, the weak want
power and wealth and sexual pleasures, but since they cannot achieve these they
turn their backs on them and demonise the people who have achieved such things.
The ‘masters’
are happy to use and abuse the ‘slaves’ in order to get what they want, and
this causes a lot of suffering amongst the slave classes. This causes the
‘slaves’ to despise greed and wealth, and instead to argue that all men should
be treated as equals, and that it is always wrong to harm other people.
Nietzsche argues, therefore, that Christian morality is not based on love and
kindness, but on jealousy, fear, weakness, and hatred of strength,
intelligence, and success. People do not ‘love their brother’ out of kindness,
but instead they treat others well simply to avoid others harming them, a kind
of ‘don’t hurt me and I won’t hurt you’ deal.
Nietzsche took
the view that Christian morality was actually bad for people in numerous ways
because it brands naturally desirable things as evil: wealth, power, sex, and
success are the things that make life worth living, and yet Christianity calls
them evil and calls those who want or have them sinful. Nietzsche would say
that traits such as violence, greed, pride, and envy were intrinsic parts of
human nature, so Christianity teaches us to hate our nature and to hate
ourselves. Moreover, things like ambition and greed are often what drives the human
race forward to progress and succeed.
Finally,
Nietzsche thinks that religion makes us see life on Earth as meaningless and
unfair, and it makes us think that that only the existence of God and heaven
can make life worthwhile, so that if there is no heaven to make up for the
terrible time we have to endure on Earth, then life is pointless. Instead
Nietzsche wants to encourage people to appreciate their short lives on Earth
and make the most of life.
To summarise Nietzsche’s
view on Christianity, the religion makes life seem meaningless, and its morals
are bad for our psychological health because they stop people from achieving
their goals and making life enjoyable and worth living. Christianity teaches
people to hate themselves because of the natural drives that they cannot help
having, and it stands in the way of progress and greatness for the strong and
intelligent. Nietzsche believes that all of us want to use our talents, achieve
our goals, and feel alive and powerful, and this is precisely what Christian
morality says we are not to do. Christian morality takes the greatest examples
of humanity, the strong and intelligent, and brands them as evil and forbids
them from using their strength and intelligence to achieve their goals. It also
labels the things that make life worthwhile (sex, power, gluttony, the thrill
of violence etc.) as evil and forbidden. For Nietzsche Christian morality is like
castration: it is an act of vandalism against human nature.
Central questions to consider:
- Is
the Bible a good source of moral guidance?
- Why
is there so much variation between different Christian denominations?
- What
do the different denominations have in common in their morality?
- How
can Christians respond to the accusations that many of its teachings are
vague, out dated, contradictory, too strict, or even immoral?
- Is
there anything of value in Christian moral principles for a non-believer?
- Are
Christian morals really divine revelations, or just the opinions of
religious people?
- Can Christian morality be defended against the attacks from Nietzsche?
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