Must a moral society be grounded in religion

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Must a moral society be grounded in religion?

• St Augustine, City of God
• PHIL 1003, 2007-08

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Who was St Augustine?

• b. 354-d. 430 C.E. N. Africa
• Christian mother, pagan father
• 373 adopts Manichean religion
• 375-87 teacher of rhetoric
• 387 conversion to Christianity
• 388 begins contemplative life
• 391 establishes monastery, ordination to
  priesthood
• 395 Bishop of Hippo
• 397 Confessions published
• A father of the Church doctrine of original sin

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Confessions

• Autobiography
• Statement of faith
• Shows power of God to convert sinners

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Confessions Pre-Christian Phase

• I went to Carthage, where I found myself in the
  midst of a hissing cauldron of lust. (Confs.,
  Bk III.1).
• I was also studying for the law. Such ambition
  was held to be honourable and I determined to
  succeed in it. The more unscrupulous I was, the
  greater my reputation was likely to be (Confs.,
  Bk III.3).
• when I first read the Scripturesthey seemed
  quite unworthy of comparison with the stately
  prose of Cicero (Confs., Bk III.5).

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Manicheanism

• Proscribed (forbidden) sect
• Dualist materialism
• Eclectic included Christianity and other
  religions
• Based on false science, including astronomy and
  astrology (Confs., Bk V.3-7)
• Basic tenets
• evil and good are physical substances
• body is corrupt
• Elect eat only vegetables filled with light in
  order to purify their bodies.

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Platonism

• Ciceros Hortensius gave A. desire for wisdom of
  eternal truth
• Yet he still could imagine no kind of substance
  except such as is normally seen by the eye
  (Confs., Bk VII.1)
• books of the Platonists opened him to the
  supersensible realm (Ideas, Forms) (Confs., Bk
  VII.9).
• Key to his acceptance of Christianity
• God is immaterial, incorruptible (like the
  Forms) this is true reality
• Good and evil are not embodied as Manichees
  believed.

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Key theological ideas

• Problem of evil where does it come from?
• Manichean answer from corrupt physical elements
  the body, certain foods
• Christian (Aug.) answer from misuse of free will
  but why do we misuse it?!
• God is good and everything in us that is good
  comes from God (Confs., Bk I.20)
• Doctrine of original sineven babies would sin if
  they could (Confs., Bk I.7)

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City of God

• A reply to the pagans

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The pagan case against Christianity

• The Roman Empire began to disintegrate in the 3rd
  century C.E.
• Edict of Milan made Christianity legal (but not
  official) in 313 C.E.
• Constantine gave buildings, lands and privileges
  to the Church baptized on his death bed (337
  C.E.)
• Christianity spread widely in the army and cities
• 391 Christianity becomes state religion
• Pagans claimed that Christianity destroyed Rome.

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Augustines reply to the pagans

• Roman religion was polytheist Christianity is
  monotheist
• First charge Roman gods did not assure their
  worshippers morals
• E.g. Obscene theatricals violate universal notion
  of respect for parents (2.4)
• Poets not allowed to slander men, but cast
  aspersions on the gods (2.14)
• Cites Platos expulsion of poets from his city in
  speech (2.14)

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Augustines reply, cont.

• Romans morals corrupted
• Republic supposed to be more moral than Empire
• But even late republic corrupt (1st cent. B.C.E.)
• They admit this themselves (Sallust,
  Cicerofavorite authors of Augustine)
• Roman gods to blame
• Yet pagans blame Christianity for a moral decline
  that pre-dates Christianity (2.19)!

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Augustines reply, cont.

• Cicero considers whether the republic/city
  requires justice
• Republic the affair of a people (res
  publica, the public thing)
• A people not just any grouping
• But a fellowship united through a consensus
  concerning right and a sharing of advantage
  (2.21)
• Like Aristotles polis!
• Augustine claims that on this definition, Rome
  was never a republic in the true sense.

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Why?

• the republic never existed because true justice
  was never present in it
• Howevera certain sort of republic did exist,
  and it was directed better by the earlier Romans
  than by the later ones
• Because true justice does not exist except in
  that republic whose founder and ruler is Christ
  (2.21, 21).

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What is true justice?

• The iniquitous institutions of human beings must
  not be said or thought to exist by right
• justice is that virtue which distributes to
  everyone his due. What sort of justice is it,
  then, that takes a man away from the true God and
  subjects him to unclean demons?
• when a man does not serve God, what in him
  canbelong to justice?...the soul can in no way
  justly rule the body, or human reason the vices
  (19.21).

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Shared advantage

• there is no advantage to any who live
  impiously, as do all who do not serve God
  (19.21).
• the Romans have up to this point served evil
  and impure demons
• e.g. Romans animal sacrifices were demonic
• We ourselveshis cityare the best and most
  radiant sacrifice (19.23).

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Summation

• justice exists when the one and supreme God
  rules his obedient city according to his grace
  (19.23)
• Soul commands body
• Reason commands vices (Aristotelian/Platonic).

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Bishop Bossuet

• Why it is better for a state to be pagan than
  atheist

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Bishop Bossuet, 17th century

• Principles of religion even in pagan states
• Athenians adored God unknowingly (193)
• tradition of divinity and sacrifice (192)
• Certain principles allow for stability of pagan
  states
• E.g. sanctity of the oath (193) allows for
  treaties, contracts, promises
• Oath establishes the greatest possible security
  among men (194)
• Does not have to be sworn by the true God, but
  only by God one recognizes (194).

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Questions

• What are some examples of modern societies that
  subscribe to Augustines views?
• Do you agree with Augustine that society should
  have a moral basis?
• Does the moral basis have to be religious in
  character?
• Or could it have another basis?