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Full Idea
The fact is that the great religions of the world are not principally concerned with ethics at all, but with the religious life for its own sake. ..The Sermon on the Mount, for example, is mainly concerned with how to pray and worship.
Gist of Idea
The great religions are much more concerned with the religious life than with ethics
Source
Gordon Graham (Eight Theories of Ethics [2004], Ch.9)
Book Ref
Graham,Gordon: 'Eight Theories of Ethics' [Routledge 2004], p.190
A Reaction
This seems to me a highly significant point, given that most people nowadays seem to endorse religion precisely because they wish to endorse morality, and think religion is its essential underpinning. See Idea 336 for the core problem ('Euthyphro').
Related Idea
Idea 336 Is what is pious loved by the gods because it is pious, or is it pious because they love it? (the 'Euthyphro Question') [Plato]
| 6685 | 'Subjectivism' is an extension of relativism from the social group to the individual [Graham] |
| 6691 | It is more plausible to say people can choose between values, than that they can create them [Graham] |
| 6688 | Life is only absurd if you expected an explanation and none turns up [Graham] |
| 6690 | A standard problem for existentialism is the 'sincere Nazi' [Graham] |
| 6689 | The key to existentialism: the way you make choices is more important than what you choose [Graham] |
| 6693 | 'What if everybody did that?' rather misses the point as an objection to cheating [Graham] |
| 6700 | We can't criticise people because of unforeseeable consequences [Graham] |
| 6701 | Rescue operations need spontaneous benevolence, not careful thought [Graham] |
| 6699 | The chain of consequences may not be the same as the chain of responsibility [Graham] |
| 6698 | Negative consequences are very hard (and possibly impossible) to assess [Graham] |
| 6704 | Egoism submits to desires, but cannot help form them [Graham] |
| 6705 | Existentialism may transcend our nature, unlike eudaimonism [Graham] |
| 6706 | The great religions are much more concerned with the religious life than with ethics [Graham] |
| 6709 | Western religion saves us from death; Eastern religion saves us from immortality [Graham] |