Doesn't Relgion Hinder Morality?

Today’s message seeks to answer the question: “Doesn’t Religion Hinder Morality?”

The question is unique because my first thought is how could one assume that religion does hinder morality? We get our moral instruction from religious teachings and beliefs, predominantly. And by religion, I am assuming the Christian religion.

We are not moral beings. We must be taught morality. From our birth, we must be corrected and shown what to do and what not to do.

I attended a funeral service just yesterday of David Dagger, father of Sam Dagger. One of the testimonies that was shared is that David lived by the Golden Rule: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” This was the teaching of Jesus Christ found in Matthew 7:12 and Luke 6:31, otherwise known as the ethic of reciprocity.

Secondly, the Bible is quite clear that without God’s intervention, you and I are moral misfits, ethical disasters. Romans 3:10-12 states:

Romans 3:10–12 ESV

10 as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; 11 no one understands; no one seeks for God. 12 All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.”

Moreover Paul writes in Ephesians 2 of every Christian’s testimony before Christ came into his life

Ephesians 2:1–3 ESV

1 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.

So just from those two places, we know that mankind, for all of its giftedness and advancement of civilization, is in need of ethical instruction and formation.

One of the greatest stories of morality is found in Luke 10, the story of the Good Samaritan. Before Jesus presents the narrative, he is asked a question. In Luke 10:25-28 we read:

Luke 10:25–28 ESV

25 And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” 26 He said to him, “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?” 27 And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” 28 And he said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.”

Interesting that a Middle Eastern scholar in the 11th century, Ibin Al Tayyib, argued that Jesus’ refusal to give a direct answer to the lawyer’s question is because He knew what the lawyer was trying to do- to test him.

Jesus is speaking into a current debate among first century Judaism. How can one do anything in order to gain an inheritance? Inheritances are by the very essence, gifts. Nevertheless, Jesus is aware of the lawyer’s testing him and instructs him to follow the two greatest commandments; to consistently practice unqualified love for God and love for neighbor.

The problem is we don’t. There is a struggle among our desires, as Paul said in Romans 7:14-15

Romans 7:14–15 ESV

14 For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin. 15 For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.

We are very unsuccessful in our attempts to live a righteous life. Apart from Jesus we can do no good thing (John 15:5). As Kenneth Bailey states: “This person, desiring to justify himself is clearly a person who wants to achieve acceptance before God on his own.” (Bailey, Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes, 288).

Jesus then advises him that the law is plain and clear. One must love God and love neighbor. Maybe as an effort to drill down and understand, the lawyer said: “Who is my neighbor?”

At this, Jesus tells a story. It is one of the most popular stories in the Bible. Maybe because we like stories of compassion. Maybe you see yourself in one of the characters?

Samaritans were those that lived in the north. The area was located between Galilee and Judea. The Samaritans were descendants of the people of the northern kingdom, the more wicked of the divided nation, taken away into exile by the Assyrians in 722 B.C.. After their return from exile, those Jews that settled there intermarried with Gentiles. As a result, Samaritans were hated by Jew and Gentiles.

Things were often tense between Jews and Samaritans. After clashes between the two groups, the Roman Emperor Claudius sent troops there to squelch the fighting and crucify several. That is why the story of the Good Samaritan is so powerful To Jews, a good Samaritan was an oxymoron.

What made the Samaritan good? The Samaritan is expected to unload the wounded man at the edge of Jericho and disappear. In contrast, he risked his own life for the Jewish man. One commentator states that two denarii would have covered the bill for food and lodging for at least a week and perhaps two. Kenneth Bailey states:

“The Samaritan extends a costly demonstration of unexpected love to the wounded man, and in the process Jesus interprets the life changing power of costly love that would climax at the cross.” (Bailey, Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes, 296).

If we were to summarize the parable, we would understand the following four things:

First, that eternal life is a gracious gift. This is a standard that is beyond the lawyer’s ability.

Secondly, your neighbor is anyone in need, regardless of language, religion or ethnicity.

Thirdly, compassion reaches beyond the requirements of any law.

And finally, Jesus showed such unusual love when He died upon the cross.

Now you might be asking: “how does that apply to religion and morality?” It is ironic that the Samaritan’s religion was more informed and more genuine than the priest’s and the Levite’s. He proved to be a neighbor to the man who was robbed and beaten. The question: what was in the Samaritan to do such a thing?

I would argue, God!

Regarding the question: “Doesn’t Religion Hinder Morality?” Rebecca McGlaughlin says that you must be more specific. Not all roads lead to heaven and not all roads are moral. For instance, radical Muslims, in the name of their religion, rape women and kill infidels. And they cite the Quran. In the Ancient Near East, the Canaanites believed in child sacrifice. So you cannot just say religion, nor can you say that they all teach the same doctrine or morals. Religions are not just different paths up to the same mountain top. They lead to entirely different mountains and valleys.

Secondly, the data shows that people of faith have better morality than those who do not practice faith. According to McGlaughlin:

“In his 2018 book, The Character Gap, Christian Miller observes that “literally hundreds of studies link religious participation with better moral outcomes.

For example, sociologist Christopher Ellison and Kristen Anderson discovered that levels of domestic violence in a US sample were almost twice as high for men who did not attend church versus those who attended once a week or more.

Religious participation has also been linked to lower rates for forty-three other crimes.

In North America, regular service attenders donate 3.5 times the money given by their nonreligious counterparts per year and volunteer more than twice as much.” (McGlaughlin, 64)

Furthermore, the basic tenets to love God and love neighbor, that which is ingrained in our Christian faith, provides a basis for so many of our civil laws. The reason? Because the Ten Commandments are the very definition of how we ought to love God and one another.

McGlaughlin adds:

“The early Christian insistence on brotherhood across racial and ethnic boundaries, even across the dichotomy of slave and free, became a spark to ignite a new moral imagination. Values that many of us in the West today consider to be universal and independent of religious thought turn out not to have sprung from the ground during the Enlightenment but to have grown from the gradual spread and influence of Christian beliefs.” (McGlaughlin, 63).

CONCLUSION

The truth is that religion does not hinder morality. It enables it. But its best presentation is found in a life transformed by the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ.

I trust you were blessed by Andrew Brunson’s testimony last Sunday. One of the things I came away with was that at the time he was most broken, the Lord enabled him to pray anyway; to praise anyway; to trust anyway. And God brought him through the most trying of circumstances.

Sandra Bullock won the 2010 Best Actress Academy Award for her portrayal of Leigh Ann Tuohy in The Blind Side. The sensational film chronicles a Christian family who took in a homeless young man and gave him the chance to reach his God-given potential. Michael Oher not only dodged the hopelessness of his dysfunctional inner city upbringing, but became the first-round NFL draft pick for the Baltimore Ravens in 2009.

At a fund-raiser several years ago, Sean Tuohy noted that the transformation of his family and Michael all started with two words. When they spotted Michael walking along the road on a cold November morning (the movie depicts it as nighttime) in shorts and a T-shirt, Leigh Ann Tuohy uttered two words that changed their world. She told Sean, “Turn around.” They turned the car around, put Michael in their warm vehicle, and ultimately adopted him into their family.

Those same two words can change anyone’s life. When we turn around, we change directions and begin an exciting new journey. Some may need to make an about-face concerning their disbelief in Christ, or it could be a Christian needs to turn around and reconsider the value of fervent prayer. Whatever your situation, a great story of wonderful change could be just two words away.