14.1 Sources of ethical decision-making  (Page 2/2)

Sacred ritual

A third source is the sacred ritual practised by a particular religious group. It can indicate a dramatic turning point affecting behaviour or it can be of an on–going nature that is an integral part of a particular tradition. A Buddhist is ordained as a monk and immediately thereafter has to obey 227 rules. A Christian is married in a Christian ritual and may have sexual relations with the partner, whereas such behaviour is forbidden to the unmarried.

In African religion cleansing and mourning rituals are performed at the death of a relative in order to communicate with the ancestors. These rituals are also designed to bring home the spirit of the deceased and to enable the latter to take his or her place among the ancestors.

The ritual purification in Islam, prior to ritual prayer, is clearly prescribed and practised with great care. Ritual actions in the slaughtering of animals for human consumption are also clearly prescribed in Judaism and Islam respectively and are designed to ensure that food is fit for human consumption, that is, either Kosher or Halaal .

Social structures

Religions are socially constructed with a hierarchy of. authority and power. This social structure constitutes a fourth source of justification. In some religions women are regarded as inferior and so it is expected that they will obey men and be submissive to them. A particular person may be elevated to a superior social status in the religion as a tribal elder or a Pope. Such persons, on their own authority, may be able to declare what is forbidden or permitted. In the Shona tradition in Zimbabwe, special messengers receive directions from the Voice of Mwari, the Supreme Being, speaking form a cave. These directions are then conveyed to the community.

In Islam a body of jurists, well–educated in the Shari’a or Islamic Law, normally gives guidance to the community on ethical matters. Their interpretation is particularly important in cases where the issue at stake is not explicitly addressed in the Qur’an or in the Hadith (Tradition). In South Africa , three such bodies serve the Muslim community, namely the Muslim Judicial Council in Cape Town, Jamiat ul– Ulama of Transvaal in Gauteng and the Jamiat–ul Ulama of Natal in Kwa–Zulu Natal.

Religious experience

Religious experience is a fifth source. A religious founder may have had a profound religious experience in which a moral requirement has been communicated. The founder may have been told to avoid eating a type of food. Such a mandate then stands. Or perhaps a religious devotee cannot decide whether a behaviour is forbidden or permitted. In prayer, an answer is received and the person is assured of the proper moral stance.

If, over time, a particular person's religious experiences become entrenched in the stories and texts of the religion, and if that religion maintains that religious experiences come from outside the person,it gains the status of revelation. This term is especially important in religions like Judaism, Christianity and Islam, where it is used to refer to the religious experiences of founders and prophets.

Religions like Buddhism, however, maintain that religious experience comes from within , and the concept of revelation does not exist there. Hinduism accepts both "within" and "without" as possible sources for religious experience.

Religious belief

A last source for ethical decision–making is justification from religious belief. All religions have beliefs about that which is beyond this world, about what is expected of them in obedience to the gods, the divine beings or the states of being. These beliefs shape and justify the way people behave. An example of the demands of particular beliefs, is to be found with Theravada Buddhism. Followers of this school of thought believe that by mental concentration they can attain Nirvana, and they are forbidden intoxicants like alcohol which would hinder such an attainment. According to the teachings of Jesus in the New Testament, a humble attitude in this life is necessary for entrance into the Kingdom of Heaven.

By now you will no doubt start to see that all six sources are closely related. Someone's religious experience is retold as a story. A religious story gets written down and becomes a text. Because of that text, people have beliefs about it, practise rituals and establish social structures. And so on.

This makes it difficult sometimes to distinguish what a person's source for ethical decision–making is. Is it personal religious experience? But didn't that experience come from having read a text, and isn't that text based on a story about someone else's experience? But we need not worry too much. For now, let us just try to identify the most immediate source.

Secular sources

We have seen that there are a number of sources for ethical behaviour in the various world religions. But what about people who do not belong to a religious organisation? We have said before that such people can – and do – act just as morally and ethically as religious people. But what are their sources? Do they have stories, texts, ritual, social structure, experience and beliefs that they can draw on?

We maintain that they do. Sometimes they are the same sources that religions use. A secular person may appreciate the ethical message of a religious story even while not believing that it comes from God.

There are also purely secular sources: for example, the writings of philosophers like Bertrand Russell or Jean–Paul Sartre. A secular person's experience may also tell him or her that ethical behaviour is rewarded by society. They may also base their decisions on the behaviour of characters in books and movies.

So, you can see that even if somebody is not "religious" in a narrow sense of the word, they still share in the same larger process of life and awareness as those who do belong to a formal religious organisation.