Mandatory Church Attendance

Would mandatory church lead to moral rebirth? This was the question raised by many after Republican Sen. Sylvia Allen remarked, “probably we should be debating a bill requiring every American to attend a church of their choice on Sunday to see if we can get back to having a moral rebirth.” The statement which was made during a committee meeting regarding, concealed-carry gun bill.

Sen. Allen argued that, “there’s a moral erosion of the soul of America,” that people should be allowed to carry concealed weapons in public buildings. She blamed the human soul to be corrupt with the eroding religion, thus her statement. She even explained her comment and pointed to her simpler, Allen explained the growing controversy about her comments by doubling down and invoking the simpler, considers more moral and religious era of her youth in the 1950s. "It was a different time. People prayed. People went to church. I remember on Sunday the stores were closed. You didn't go to stores because they weren't open," she stated on the senate floor.

In the article, Evan Selinger an ethics philosopher at Rochester Institute of Technology in New York stated, “It's overly-simplistic to believe that genuine moral sensitivity can be engineered,” Professor Selinger says. “People can regularly participate in religious rituals ... and still turn out to be insensitive, selfish, apathetic, and even cruel.”

This subject of religion has often been associated with good morals and behavior. Although religion may play a significant role in developing our moral values, but a philosophical investigation of moral issues must involve more than faith in a religious authority. It is believed that rational argument and reasoning can be a way of people to arrive at a decision.

Chapter 1 of our textbook discusses the subject of moral issues and religion a strong statement which I want to share is this, “a good way to communicate about ethics for both believers and non-believers is to approach the issue through the language of reason.” Today’s social thinkers believe being religious is neither a prerequisite to being moral, nor assurance that a person will be moral.

 

References:
Sen. Sylvia Allen: Would 'mandatory church' lead to 'moral rebirth'? ( video). (n.d.). Retrieved March 29, 2015, from http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Society/2015/0327/Sen.-Sylvia-Allen-Would-mandatory-church-lead-to-moral-rebirth-video?cmpid=addthis_mailto
 

Rosenstand, N. (2013). The moral of the story: An Introduction to Ethics (7th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.