Can morality be taught apart from religion, especially from the doctrine(s) of, say, Lutheranism or Catholicism or even just Christianity in general?

I'm thinking of the sex ed thread in which several posters claimed there can be no effective sex ed classes without moral teaching and others countered that morality doesn't belong in sex ed classes.

So. a second question follows -- can sex ed be effectively taught apart from morality?

Fr_Chuck

on what basis would the moral value be taught ?

If you have a society values, what are they based on.

In general moral values of all levels are based on some religious value, if not christian, of a moon god or fish god but of some religous bais

Sexual practice and sexual positions, and pregnancy prevention can be taught, but the values of not having sex untill ????? marriage, untill the boy asks, is all a moral value.

for example, what status stops a boy from forcing a girl to have sex? a law, but is that law based on a moral value ?

shygrneyzs

Yes, morality itself can be taught without the reference to Christianity, such as Catholicism or Lutheranism. But what kind of morality are you taking about? Even Satanists have a morality they abscribe to.

So you define the morality and you can find some philosophy somewhere that will uphold it - without a religious base. Then are you going to hold that morality to a standard? What would be your standard?

About the sexual education being taught with and without a morality clause.
I think sexual abstinence can be taught from a medical viewpoint without introducing religion. If you introduce a societal morality - whose society? The United States? Well, that does not work for obvious reasons. The U.S. is permissive, at the very least.

Fr_Chuck

yes, but satanism ( not sure of the exact word) is a religion, they moral code is still based on a religious value.

But abstinecne from a medical viewpoint ? what medical viewpoint, all they can do is show how not to get pregnant, which pills, condoms and others will take care of it. So what medcially can abstinence be taught as.

Now I want it taught, but outside of morality, why??

shygrneyzs

From a medical viewpoint - the risks of having a baby at an early age, just the facts of how fast a life can change in a relatively few minutes of sexual intercourse. Not to mention having the chances of contracting some STD or incurable disease like HIV/AIDS. One can present that without attaching their morals to it.

But I understand what you are saying, Fr. Chuck, without the moral component, the class is pretty much a five minute presentation (or less) on the don'ts. Problem is, whose morals are attached to that? And why should it be left up to the schools to teach anyways? Doesn't that come from family and religious instructions? I can't see schools as too successsful either. Look at all the information out there and free exams and condoms and birth control, etc. and so on, and still we have babies having babies by the thousands.

Fr_Chuck

Yes, but do kids think they will ever be the one, and if in the same class they are taught that none of that happens if they use the birth control that is being taught ??

Of course sex ed, even without the moral values is better than none, or finding it out in the back of your dads Chevy.
I do beleive in sex ed in school, and beleive the morality should be taught at home.

shygrneyzs

True - my nephew never thought he would be a Daddy and yet he is. Arrogance and stupidity on his part. Disrespectful also, as he did not make sure that his gf would be protected. If couples want to engage in intercourse then they ought to be prepared and protected. We can teach our children our moral values and the importance of staying abstinent but, as a parent, you know how fast that can fly out the window. But we try our best and pray for the rest.

shygrneyzs

You betcha, Wondergirl, I was so smart at 18 too. lol. Too bad my brain did not match my ego at that time.

Dark_crow

There is Classical Greek morality. After Virtue is a highly regarded book on moral philosophy by Alasdair MacIntyre published in 1981.

Dark_crow

Sex ed cannot be effectively taught apart from morality because Sex is a moral decision. Temperance consists of not giving in too easily to the pleasures of physical sensation and is a moral virtue. Moral virtues dispose us to behave in the correct manner, it is necessary also to have the right intellectual virtues in order to reason properly about how to behave. The attempt to teach temperance outside the framework of moral virtues is like trying to teach someone to ride a bicycle without the bicycle.

The Internet Classics Archive | Nicomachean Ethics by Aristotle