Religion And Morality (ashgate Philosophy Of Religion Series)

RELIGION AND MORALITY Religion and Morality addresses central issues arising from religion’s relation to morality. Part I offers a sympathetic but critical appraisal of the claim that features of morality provide evidence for the truth of religious belief. Part II examines divine command theories, objections to them, and positive arguments in their support. Part III explores tensions between human morality, as ordinarily understood, and religious requirements by discussing such issues as the conflict between Buddhist and Christian pacifism and requirements of justice, whether “virtue” without a love of God is really a vice, whether the God of the Abrahamic religions could require us to do something that seems clearly immoral, and the ambiguous relations between religious mysticism and moral behavior. Covering a broad range of topics, this book draws on both historical and contemporary literature, and explores afresh central issues of morality and religion offering new insights for students, academics and the general reader interested in philosophy and religion. ASHGATE PHILOSOPHY OF RELIGION SERIES Series Editors Paul Helm, King’s College, University of London, UK Jerome Gellman, Ben-Gurion University, Beer-Sheva, Israel Linda Zagzebski, University of Oklahoma, USA Due to the work of Plantinga, Alston, Swinburne and others, the philosophy of religion is now becoming recognized once again as a mainstream philosophical discipline in which metaphysical, epistemological and moral concepts and arguments are applied to issues of religious belief. The Ashgate Philosophy of Religion Series fosters this resurgence of interest by presenting a number of high profile titles spanning many critical debates, and presenting new directions and new perspectives in contemporary research and study. This new series presents books by leading international scholars in the field, providing a platform for their own particular research focus to be presented within a wider contextual framework. Offering accessible, stimulating new contributions to each topic, this series will prove of particular value and interest to academics, graduate, postgraduate and upper-level undergraduate readers world-wide focusing on philosophy, religious studies and theology, sociology or other related fields. Titles in the series include: Mystical Experience of God A Philosophical Inquiry Jerome Gellman Religious Diversity A Philosophical Assessment David Basinger Rationality and Religious Theism Joshua L. Golding God and Realism Peter Byrne God and the Nature of Time Garrett J. DeWeese Religion and Morality WILLIAM J. WAINWRIGHT University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, USA © W. J. Wainwright 2005 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission of the publisher. The author has asserted his moral right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as the author of this work. Published by Ashgate Publishing Limited Gower House Croft Road Aldershot Hants GU11 3HR England Ashgate Publishing Company Suite 420 101 Cherry Street Burlington, VT 05401-4405 USA Ashgate website: http://www.ashgate.com British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Wainwright, William J. Religion and morality. - (Ashgate philosophy of religion series) 1. Divine commands (Ethics) 2. God - Proof, Moral 3. Religious ethics I. Title 205 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Wainwright, William J. Religion and moral