The Foundations of Peace and the Duties of Religions

Abstract

The moral virtues are the normative foundations of peace. Building on this, thepaper argued that peaceful co-existence among religions and identities is possibleeven in a highly pluralized society. The study employed the philosophical-criticalmethod where factual and philosophical data are extrapolated from relevant literatures and are used to advance the main thesis via a rigorous philosophical dialectic. The study found that the moral virtues are the primary principles of thenatural law, which are naturally and spontaneously known through the practicalreason/conscience. In as much as religions presuppose the existence of God, themoral virtues constitute God’s primary will for all men to accomplish and arethe first and highest duties of religions. Although, most religions, if not all, teachthe importance of the moral virtues, they are not given the highest position.Conflicts arise when religious laws, customs and traditions, which sometimesare contrary to the moral virtues, are given the highest priority. Thus, the paperargued that the moral virtues should be considered as the primary and overridingprinciples by which religious observance is judged as faithful or not. The paperconcluded that peace can be achieved when leaders of different religions anchortheir religious teachings, religious life, and the notion of religious fidelity mainlyor primarily on the moral virtues, and above all, love. Keywords: Philosophy of religion, peace, duties of religion, thin universalism, moralvirtues, natural law, Philippines