Ethics and Religion:

Throughout history, most ethical systems have been religious.  Five Categories Theory seeks to create a scientific system of ethics, supported by but not founded in religion.  The value of such an undertaking is recognized even by religious leaders, such as the Dalai Lama, whose book Beyond Religion calls for just such an ethical system:

“It is clear that something is seriously lacking in the way we humans are going about things.  But what is it that we lack?  The fundamental problem, I believe, is that at every level we are giving too much attention to the external, material aspects of life while neglecting moral ethics and inner values.  Our inner lives are something we ignore at our own peril, and many of the greatest problems we face in today’s world are the result of such neglect.

“We will never solve our problems simply by instituting new laws and regulations.  Ultimately, the source of our problems lies at the level of the individual.  If people lack moral values and integrity, no system of laws and regulations will be adequate.  So long as people give priority to material values, then injustice, corruption, inequity, intolerance, and greed, all the outward manifestations of neglect of inner values, will persist.

“So what are we to do?  Where are we to turn for help?  Science, for all the benefits it has brought to our external world, has not yet provided scientific grounding for the development of the foundations of personal integrity -- the basic inner human values that we appreciate in others and would do well to promote in ourselves.  Perhaps then, we should seek inner values from religion, as people have done for millenia.  Certainly religion has helped millions of people in the past, helps millions today and will continue to help millions in the future, but for all its benefits in offering moral guidance and meaning in life, in today’s secular world, religion alone is no longer adequate as a basis for ethics.  One reason for this is that many people in the world no longer follow any particular religion.  Another reason is that as the peoples of the world become ever more closely interconnected in an age of globalization and in multicultural societies, ethics based on only one religion would only appeal to some of us; it would not be meaningful for all.  

“Any religion-based answer to the problem of our neglect of inner values can never be universal, and so will be inadequate.  What we need today is an approach to ethics which makes no recourse to religion and can be equally acceptable to those with faith and those without:  A secular ethics.  This statement may seem strange coming from someone who, from a very early age, has lived as a monk in robes, yet I see no contradiction here.  My faith enjoins me to strive for the welfare and benefit of all sentient beings, and reaching out beyond my own tradition to those of other religions and those of none is entirely in keeping with this.

“For those whose religious belief is so closely tied to ethical practice, it is hard to conceive of one without the other.  For those who believe that truth requires God, God alone can make ethics binding.  Without God as the guarantor, they suggest, there is at best only relative truth, so that what is true for one person may not be true for another.  And in this situation, there is no basis for distinguishing right from wrong; for evaluating good and bad; or for restraining selfish and destructive impulses and cultivating inner values.

“While I fully respect this point of view, it is not one I share.  I do not agree that ethics requires grounding in religious concepts or faith.  Instead, I firmly believe that ethics can also emerge simply as a natural and rational response to our very humanity, and our common human condition” (Lama).