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Living Morally without Religion

            There are numerous views on the subject of morality being possible without religion. First off, morality is principles concerning the distinction between right and wrong or good and bad behavior. This topic immediately jumped off the page at me because of the simple fact that I was brought up with a strong value system with no religious influence. Most everyone in the world is born into either a religious family or one that does not believe or simply care about religion. Belief in a god or belonging to an organized religion is not necessary for knowing right from wrong; it is an individual's personality and upbringing, which will lead them to live an ethically and morally "correct" life.
             "Someone may say that there is one way to 'acquire' religion and that is being taught as a small child" (Murdoch 363). Although my mother tried to raise my sister and I with religious influence, my dad who is a non-believer made it very hard for her. He would say he doesn't believe in anything that he cannot see with his own eyes. We attended church a few times but it did not last very long. Being a child with a high case of ADHD I was not too fond of sitting for hours and standing up once and a while to sing a song. Basically I was not interested in learning about religion or about God. After many attempts my mother decided to give up and felt my father's influence was much stronger on us then a god that we knew nothing about. While religion was not a part of our lives we still were raised with very high morals, values and by the golden rule, "Treat others how you want to be treated.".
             Murdoch implies, "To unite morality without religion consistently is impossible." I do not agree and feel that my immediate family and I are living proof that morality is possible without religious influence. Our family has always been very close and cherishes our time by cooking meals together, going on vacations and making everlasting memories.


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