Reflections for July 2025

Because of more rapid communications and the continual movements of populations, our world is effectively becoming smaller world. It brings more people and countries into closer contact with each other.

This prompts us to think about morality or moral philosophy- the study which treats with virtues and vices, the criteria of right and wrong. In short, morality gives guidelines to good, rather than bad, behaviour. 

Please do not be disappointed or mock me because you think that I am going to set myself up as a pinnacle of virtue. Telling the sun to have an eclipse to cool us, is  more likely to happen  than that I have any personal virtues to talk about. What I will give below, is a brief but I think an accurate account-sheet of the main world religions and their common grounds of morality.

Buddhism – in its collected scriptures the moral aims spoken about are: to minimise suffering and to promote well-being for the self and others.

Christianity-The New Testament gives the closest guide to morality – high-lighting love and compassion.

Hinduism – morality in their religious texts emphasises non-violence, truthfulness, righteous conduct and duty.

Judaism – Jewish morality - as expressed in the Torah - includes justice, kindness, the importance of community, and the sanctity of life. 

Muslim morality - The Koran emphasises the virtues of honesty, compassion, and patience, leading to just and ethical behaviour,  conduct and duty.

There are many more religions and sects (perhaps 4,000 or more in the world according to Wikipedia) and there are the agnostics who do not know and therefore cannot believe in deities. They follow moral pathways based on reason and empathy with other human beings who identify and name their own moralities. These are often Humanists.

Then, as each of these religions share many of the moralities described - important moralities which represent perhaps 70% of the world population - there is hope; hope that will break down barriers between countries, governments, cities, counties, boroughs, parishes and individuals and the concerns in which they work and the party-political divides from which we all suffer. 

We all have more in common than divides us. We can build on that.