Product Description

The use of God in moral debate is so problematic as to be almost worthless. We can argue with one another as to whether this or that alleged claim genuinely emanated from God, but surely it is better to leave God out of the argument and find strong human reasons for supporting the systems we advocate. We need a sensible and practical approach that will help us pick our way through the moral maze that confronts us in the pluralistic society we live in. Godless Morality offers exactly this - a human-centred justification for contemporary morality.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #223956 in Books
• Published on: 2004-07-30
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 163 pages

About the Author
One of the most outspoken and best-loved figures in the modern church, RICHARD HOLLOWAY recently stood down as the Bishop of Edinburgh but remains Gresham Professor of Divinity in the City of London and a Fellow of the Royal Society. He has written for many newspapers in Britain including The Times, The Guardian, Sunday Herald and The Scotsman; and presented his own series on BBC Television.

Customer Reviews

Ethical Guidelines for all regardless of faith or lack of it
I had read perhaps about half way through this book before catching a glimpse of the inside of the back cover where it is revealed that the author is a bishop. This came as some surprise as the book appears to be a hugely convincing plea for secular humanism. The book covers a wide range of moral issues including sex and marriage, gay issues, ethical questions that arise from new technology, alcohol, tobacco and drug use and many others. The author covers these things with an immense amount of thought and wisdom, sometimes offering guidance and sometimes presenting the facts and letting the reader decide for him or herself. Altogether I find this to be a truly excellent book. Author Mary Warnock in her comments on the rear cover says "I enjoyed Godless Morality enormously and agreed with it almost totally." I don't think there is very much that I could add to that.

Enlightenment
The very fact that this book is written by the Bishop of Edinburgh only reinvorces the lack of necessity for God in a moral system. To quote Holloway "We either admit that God is, to some extent at least, a human construct that is subject to criticism and evolution, or we weld religion to unsustainable prejudices that guarantee its rejection for the best, not the worst of reasons, so that to abandon it becomes a virtuous act of revolt against an oppressive force that imprisons rather than liberates humanity."
This is a refreshing and well written book and in no sense is it a sermon, quite the opposite.

This quite simply changed my life
This book, for me, resonated the sign of the times. It is a text for all of us to question our own meaning of morality in our Western world. We live in a mainstream society where we seem to question so little of what happens in our world. This book made me realise we all have a responsibility to effect positive change in our world. I also found myself questioning Western commercial imperialisation - where 'seemingly' we HAVE to stamp our breed of 'democracy' on the world when in fact this denigrates and insults the essence of other cultures and religions. This book serves to applaud diversity of 'religion' in a way which values human life and breeds respect for humanity.