RELIGION AND ETHICS
Ethics are moral principles that directly impacts and governs an individual’s general behaviors or how an activity is conducted. Religion is a human belief in the existence and worship of a supreme being with universal power to control nature, usually an individual’s God or multiple gods.
How do Ethics and Religion relate?
Human ethics deals with how right or wrong an individual’s behavior may be. Every action a person does is considered either good or bad. That which they chose to do are termed as good while the actions they forgo are often referred to as bad (“Relationship between religion and ethics.”) Most ethical acts are often based with the judgment of values and does not base on the worship of God or gods. Ethics does not have a specific system or place and times of practice.
Religion is, however, a system with an organized structure with entire belief in the existence of a Supreme Being(s). Religion has an articulated model of how individuals relate with these Supreme Beings by worshipping and promoting their values. Religion focus on believing in the spiritual and supernatural forces that are directly capable of influencing an individual’s behaviors, environment, and situations the chose to engage in, thus affecting their ethics.
From the incident of John Doe, the condition he has cannot allow him to have children of his own. John understands the importance of having children. From the moral teachings, it is ethical to bear and raise children of your flesh and blood. John’s idea of generating his child would only be ethical to him. It is, however, unethical for John to clown himself to get a child. Children are meant to come from the union of a man and a woman and in this case, this child might be considered illegitimate, subjecting it to worldly judgments.
For Joe and Mary’s case, it is very ethical of them to miss their late child, as a parent would miss a deceased child. Getting an IVF is only ethical for them to replace their lost child. However, most religions are against IVF and consider it a step against God’s order of creation. It will, therefore, be unethical for them to go against their religious beliefs and carry on the IVF.
From John’s incident, personal clowning is for his benefit. That does not mean that regenerating another human being with similar characteristics is wrong. It would be to better his life and existence in general. IVF on the couple’s case is not immoral either (Emotivism, 2019). If the couple truly want another child and biologically, they are unable to, then it would only be fair if they took the IVF path despite their religious restrictions.
By nature, it is only fair to grant an individuals’ wish as long as it’s beneficial to the people conducting the act and does not cause harm. It is, therefore, with no doubt, that an ethicist who observes natural law, would agree with the ethical conduct of the two involved incidences as this is only to better their lives.
God commands that a child should only be bored from a union of a man and a woman. Any biological production besides the union of the two is deemed unethical. In John’s case, clowning goes against divine ethics. It is therefore important for him to understand that there are various ways and treatments he can receive to get a biological child and help uphold the divine ethics. For the couple, having the IVF is against God’s commands and would deprive their divine ethics. A child is meant to develop in a woman’s body and they would rather consider using a surrogate mother to develop their child. By doing so, the couple upholds God’s command of creation and divine ethics of human existence.
References
Emotivism. (2019, November 8). Reason and Meaning. https://reasonandmeaning.com/2016/11/26/emotivism/
The relationship between religion and morality: On whether the multiplicity of religious denominations have impacted positively on socio-ethical behavior. (n.d.). ResearchGate. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/328268475_The_Relationship_Between_Religion_and_Morality_On_Whether_the_Multiplicity_of_Religious_Denominations_have_Impacted_Positively_on_Socio-Ethical_Behavior