Religious Ethics as Cultural or Counter-Cultural

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Having considered different ways in which revelation and scripture are interpreted this chapter will outline the varied ethical stances to which this gives rise vis-a-vis dominant ethical paradigms. This analysis is based on the theory of RH Niebuhr in ‘Christ and Culture’, originally developed in relation to Christian communities but more recently applied by Keith Ward, amongst others, to other religious traditions. The analysis addresses the dilemmas for religious ethics and communities of living ‘in but not of the world’, of maintaining religious authenticity at the potential expense of impact on the wider community or of losing religious identity by assimilation to broader social mores. There will be analysis of terms such as conservative, traditionalist and liberationist as part of this assessment. For secular society ethical dilemmas are also raised by the degree to which religious communities want to maintain a counter-cultural stance or public engagement, with or without assimilation. The main issue is to what extent can or should religious difference be accommodated. At the heart of some of these counter-cultural stances lie the acceptance or otherwise of bodies of knowledge and disputes over epistemological authority. For example, communities may differ over what is classed as harmful conduct or valid medical opinion. Again the issues will be assessed by reference to current ethical debates, in this case over human rights in relation to forced marriage, education and equalities legislation. The boundaries of what is or is not acceptable when considering counter-cultural accommodation also raise questions about the nature of harm, within a utilitarian ethic and essential rights from a deontological perspective.