‘A COVER FOR IMMORAL LIVING’
Morality refers to that code of conduct which governs the way people should behave in relation to one another. In this sense, morality is a social enterprise. In our human society today where such immoral actions as crime and violence are so common that they are almost acceptable, one wonders whether it is worthwhile attempting to be moral at all.
Generally, people should be moral because they are social beings. This means that people cannot live on their own. The helplessness of human babies, for instance, requires that they be born within a society if they are to survive at all.
Morality is so heavily dependent on social relationships that it is not possible to perceive it on its own. Morality shines only in its reflection on the relationship between human beings. If an individual person was to live in isolation from other people, it would not matter whether he/she were moral or not.
People should be moral because they are naturally egoistic and it is to their own advantage that they be moral. Let me explain. For me to pursue my interests, it is necessary that there be some order in society. Although some immoral actions appear to be in my self-interest, they may not really be so. For instance, it may appear to be in my interest to cheat in my final year undergraduate degree coursework examination since I will then pass without working hard. But since there is a possibility of being caught cheating in the examinations the result of which would be suspension or even expulsion, cheating may not be to my interest at all. The implication of this argument is that it may be in one's interest not to follow one's interest at times." It is with this in mind that it may be argued that it is always, in the end, to our own interest that we have a sense of moral obligations. In other words, we act moral because under any other conditions our desires would on the whole be less gratified.
Man also possesses a sense of duty. It is generally agreed that killing another person is morally wrong. But supposing I am attacked by a murderer who threatens to kill me. If I have a gun and I shoot him before he kills me, would I be morally justified? I will be in the right because I will have acted in self-defence. I will not only have acted in self-interest but also from a sense of duty: I have a moral obligation to defend myself just as much as I would any innocent bystander. To do otherwise would be to commit suicide. In such a case, it is contrary to reason to refrain from shooting the man.
Christians should be moral because they profess and believe in a religion which emphasizes love as the highest virtue. It is the duty of every religious man to act morally towards his fellow men since for all who believe in God, man has a transcendental perspective.
Finally, it seems that people ought to be moral because other people are moral to at least some extent. If others are completely immoral, nobody would have any reason to be moral.
In the world today, a significant population is Christians. If only these could all behave morally, everyone else would have little reason not to also be moral. The human race would flourish with minimal suffering and conflicts of interests would be solved in just ways.