Is there good without religion?

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   I apologize if this question has been exhausted, but as it is quite obvious, I'm new here. I've personally done some reading on Islamic ethics and have become fascinated by some of the different ancient schools of thought in early Islamic history. However, judging by the general consensus here and also via the Qur'an ethics, or the discipline to deal with what is good and bad are theologically based.

Unfortunately because Islamic ethics according to the early schools of thought were largely tied in with predestination, determinism etc it would make this a longer analysis of the issue. I'm not so much concerned with the issue of freewill per se but the issue of whether goodness of badness (or evil) are religiously determined.

The phrase "Is there good without religion?" sounds misleading and it's not meant to be an attack on the Muslim religion (such as inviting the thought that there is good without religion) rather, provokes the ethical thought that one could be good without worshipping in a religion. Just reading some of the general threads here it appears that some Muslim members (which appears to be consistent with some of the ideologies of earlier Muslim thinkers) that goodness is largely defined religiously in connection with God's laws.

If such is the case I have some general disagreement here, or I maybe misunderstanding something. But as far as my general opinion on the issue is concerned, I wholeheartedly believe all human beings are areligious when born, and therefore aren't exposed to the ethical implications of what it is to be a "good follower" or "bad follower." I believe some of our ethics, or knowledge of good and evil, comes from evironment, and that to be exposed to this would be a determinant of how we define good and bad.

I also believe that some of our ideas of good and bad (notice I didn't say evil here) are biological. For instance, eating poison fruits which makes us physical ill will generate a disliking for that thing which we will effectively avoid when coming into contact with it. so the following question is: Am I not good if I'm not religious?

I mean I'd like to think so.......

I am a productive citizen in my country.
I pay taxes, give to charity, help those in need and selflessly give back to those who are in need and even those who don't really deserve it.
I also believe that if the time comes God forbid (no pun intended) I'd give my life to save others. but as you can see I've defined my own ethics with a certain level of altruism here, but this is my brief analysis of the issue but I'm curious as to whatothers here think.

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Gibbs Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Guest Group Joined: 29 April 2009 Status: Offline Points: 939	Post Options Post Reply Quote Gibbs Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Topic: Is there good without religion? Posted: 04 May 2009 at 10:06am
	I apologize if this question has been exhausted, but as it is quite obvious, I'm new here. I've personally done some reading on Islamic ethics and have become fascinated by some of the different ancient schools of thought in early Islamic history. However, judging by the general consensus here and also via the Qur'an ethics, or the discipline to deal with what is good and bad are theologically based. Unfortunately because Islamic ethics according to the early schools of thought were largely tied in with predestination, determinism etc it would make this a longer analysis of the issue. I'm not so much concerned with the issue of freewill per se but the issue of whether goodness of badness (or evil) are religiously determined. The phrase "Is there good without religion?" sounds misleading and it's not meant to be an attack on the Muslim religion (such as inviting the thought that there is good without religion) rather, provokes the ethical thought that one could be good without worshipping in a religion. Just reading some of the general threads here it appears that some Muslim members (which appears to be consistent with some of the ideologies of earlier Muslim thinkers) that goodness is largely defined religiously in connection with God's laws. If such is the case I have some general disagreement here, or I maybe misunderstanding something. But as far as my general opinion on the issue is concerned, I wholeheartedly believe all human beings are areligious when born, and therefore aren't exposed to the ethical implications of what it is to be a "good follower" or "bad follower." I believe some of our ethics, or knowledge of good and evil, comes from evironment, and that to be exposed to this would be a determinant of how we define good and bad. I also believe that some of our ideas of good and bad (notice I didn't say evil here) are biological. For instance, eating poison fruits which makes us physical ill will generate a disliking for that thing which we will effectively avoid when coming into contact with it. so the following question is: Am I not good if I'm not religious? I mean I'd like to think so....... I am a productive citizen in my country. I pay taxes, give to charity, help those in need and selflessly give back to those who are in need and even those who don't really deserve it. I also believe that if the time comes God forbid (no pun intended) I'd give my life to save others. but as you can see I've defined my own ethics with a certain level of altruism here, but this is my brief analysis of the issue but I'm curious as to whatothers here think.