Without religion, there can be a good life?
Within the Catholic world opinions on the merits are not uniform. There are those who rule it out, whereas religion as a unique foundation and substance of the moral life and some people, however, knows that you can live virtuously even outside of the communion of believers, as long as you respect the 'natural law', conceived as an immediate expression of divine will.
a question, this one, which dates back to the first claim of Christianity, when we questioned the fate after death of the pagans, who lived in ignorance of the new religion. Dante chose Virgil as a teacher and guide into the realms of the afterlife, without an affirmative answer to the question would only access to Paradise, as a sign of the limits and, together, the fragility of a morality based solely on the nature and reason human and not due to lack of subjective awareness, his transcendent principle.
But things are not true.
After the Kantian reduction of the "Religion within the Limits of Reason" (1793) report the religion and moral is to be radically reversed: one can be virtuous, but being believers, but the 'faith' in God and practice a religion are not in themselves guarantee a way of life that can be called 'moral'. So much so that, often, the love of God and the duty of obedience to the ecclesiastical regulations come into conflict with the spontaneous and more authentic voice of conscience, introducing incurable and agonizing conflicts.
Despite the continued indulgence of the traditional position, which led Kant to see religion in the necessary support of the moral life and prevented a final deliverance, after the conquests of criticism, it became increasingly clear, and today it is difficult to refute, that the ' moral experience is a field in which is exercised, exclusively, the sovereignty of man and the principles, maxims, laws, evaluations within its sphere of relevance are therefore absolutely autonomous and free from any 'faith' in a transcendent reality.
Conscience becomes, indeed, the yardstick of those religions that have originated in different times and contexts, the universe of men. Under that provision, we consider, for example, the monotheistic religions as more advanced than the animistic and polytheistic, and among the monotheistic religions, we consider the Christian religion as the most responsive to the ethical principle of understanding of others and the consequent cohabitation rule that requires mutual understanding, respect and friendship among men.
The representation of God the person, the God who enters history, becomes human and offers himself as sacrifice for the redemption of mankind, however, corresponds to the naive need to give an objective consistency and a reference to the ontological need more morality, which, in contrast, looks not just an awareness, throughout the history of individuals and communities, is setting up its own power and live permanently and completely resolved in the conscience of every person, expressed in the choice, and free all free, of human individuals. To know what
the duty of acting in certain situations there is no need, therefore, the 'faith': just ask, with a heart free of prejudices, on what is the best choice consistent and appropriate to the foundational principle of morality, the principle is, that our freedom should not hamper the freedom of others and indeed to promote, within a framework of mutual compatibility of the many projects of life, being the good life of a rich and happy is good for everyone and not a privilege for some predestined . And if there are situations of extreme uncertainty, where it is more difficult to decide how to act among the possible alternatives, it should eventually take full responsibility of our actions, reflecting the risk of error and repentance, except where they are clearly contrary to the laws of your country and from pure motives are selfish and utilitarian.
E 'hardly necessary to observe that the laws and human laws, as well as the so-called' natural laws' and alleged 'divine laws' shall be subjected to the test of moral conscience, and when they do not conform to the protection and the promotion of universal human rights, namely his own content, should be fought with the most morally appropriate means, including that of open rebellion, Locke theorized that with the beautiful metaphor for a final "appeal to Heaven. "
In conclusion, there is no need to 'convert' religious to live a good life, even in a world full of tensions, contradictions and confusion that it is global. Nor should we fear comes the much dreaded 'relativistic' and 'hedonistic' in consequence of the general process of 'secularization' (and by whom? Perhaps the billions of human beings, kept in conditions of poverty, misery and subjugation restricted to elites and obsequious world, greedy for wealth, power, luxury and worldly pleasures?).
The excess of consideration given by J. Habermas, religion, as an important factor of social cohesion, suggested to be too pessimistic analysis of contemporary reality, closely resembles the doctrine of 'double truth' and represents a failure and a retreat, a philosopher by training Marxist than the essence of humanistic and empowerment of modernity.
On the other hand, the invitation, a few years ago, the Roman Pontiff in the world of non-believers to live 'as if God exists', to avoid the pitfalls of moral relativism, not about falls and obscures the fact that the relativism is true of many religions, anchored in certain representations of reality and incompatible transcendent and between which no dialogue is, in hindsight, it is possible, but only a mutual denial of their truth in the name of faith.
If today, unlike in the past, wars between religions explode rarely and sporadically, and the various churches have adapted to more or less peaceful and tolerant coexistence, this is due to the prevalence of a common consciousness of the emerging over and above their own particularity, one will, and not determined by any faith, is the only true power is capable of unifying the world and provide hope in a global civilization.
Nothing is good, if not good will.
0 comments:
Post a Comment