Atheists, agnostics and people who do not have any religious affiliation are often annoyed by what they consider to be an arrogant assumption on the part of believers that you need religion to be ethical.
Some of them point out that the is no shortage people big on belief and short on ethical behaviour. Some terrible things have been doen in the name of religion they say. Some even suggest that, maybe the opposite is true; can you have a religion and be ethical?
Religious organizations have a wide variety of comprehensive services, programming, groups, lectures, readings, models, and so forth that can regularly impart, support, and provide corrective feedback about ethical principles and guidelines to their members. The secular community just doesn’t seem to have the organizational structure to do so
This article concludes that the answer to the question, “Do you need religion to be ethical appears to be, “no but it could help.”
Source
Psychology Today
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Psychology Today
News category: Analysis and Comment.