blog 2

After reading and analyzing the ethical issues packet, one issue concerning morality and religion really struck me.  The issue concerns whether a non-religious person can do moral acts which may be even greater than those of a religious person.   Assume in a hypothetical example, the case of two high school students who have just been accepted to Ursinus College.  One of the two students is a very religious person and actively practices all of the teachings of her faith.  With that being said, the religious student decides that it would be best if she were to donate the equivalent of four years’ worth of tuition costs she would otherwise pay to Ursinus to the Red Cross. After donating the money, the religious student feels the need to go and work for the Red Cross, but in a relatively minor role and position.  Her impact on helping those in need is minimal because of her lack of a college education.  The second student in my example is not religious and is also accepted to Ursinus College. The non-religious student decided to enroll in Ursinus for four years of study and earns his college degree. With this degree the non-religious student then successfully interviews and proceeds to work for the Red Cross for the entirety of his working life, in a position which materially aids thousands of people over those working years.

Instead of doing what the religious student decided to do and donate all of his money to the Red Cross and work right away in a junior role, the non-religious student pursued a self-serving short term goal of earning his degree, with a long term goal of serving those in great need in a meaningful way. The question raised here is can one identify who has the better, or higher morals of doing what is considered to be right in the context of religion or lack of religion? The religious student’s morals are that she did do something good since she donated considerable money (perhaps almost a quarter million dollars in today’s UC rates) to the Red Cross as a charity, as well as worked for the Red Cross.  In looking to the non-religious person who did not donate his money, but used it to attend Ursinus, we see that his moral conduct is separated from religion and perhaps can be viewed as even more moral since he served a greater portion of mankind with the benefit of his Ursinus education.  This example shows that morality does not automatically depend upon religion, a question asked in the ethical issues packet.