A secular society is one which seeks and maintains a tendency of independent from religious inclinations. As such institutions and the government under a secular society are usually free from religious influence most probably to avoid bias. Humans however are religious beings that have the will and discretion to belong to any mode of worship or follow any religious doctrine of choice. A secular society gives freedom for individuals to do whatever they will and many religions find this almost unacceptable. Secularism however still thrives especially where there are many religions pitting individuals to get spoilt for choice or even doubting the existence of supreme beings and thus engage in what is found wrong by majority of religions. Religions in a secular society face many challenges. Each of the religions has ways to adapt and cope with these challenges that are brought about by the very freedom of worship. The secular society limits the methods of problem solving because there must be common aims and common framework of law which ends up lacking as a result of diversity in beliefs especially those posed by secularism.
Major religions of the world are met with those challenges. Western religions have very closely related teachings. Eastern religions as well are a bit related but there comes diversity between the Eastern and the Western religions. We can thus take a representative of each and see how either copes with the challenges posed by the secular world. The most popular of the two religious groups are Hinduism and Christianity.
Immorality is one of the challenges posed by secularism and it is rampant in the world today. Christians experience it in their everyday life. They tackle this challenge and take some measures towards it in different ways. Morality in Christians has many beliefs and moral values to observe to cope with immorality. These frameworks are from different sources such as the holy books, oral and written traditions and religious leaders. Christianity as a monotheistic religion typically derives ideas of right and wrong by the set of laws in the holy books and their leaders. For example, the leaders teach the Christians on tips to avoid immorality in the society. Praying to God to take away temptations is one way. Jesus, the founder of Christianity taught this to the disciples in ‘The Lord’s prayer’ –‘Lead us not into temptation’. Jesus also taught of getting rid of a person’s part that would hinder one from getting into the kingdom of God. The interpretation of this is that one ought to shed off anything that can lead to sinning, immorality included. Such could be such things as bad company or even exposure to immorality itself.Christian attitude toward adultery which state that mistresses are for pleasure, but wives are to produce children which was the intended purpose for marriage also enables Christians cope with immorality. This factor leads to the understanding of why immorality is wrong by the Christians and they can therefore, adapt to the challenge because guidelines are in the holy books.Adultery is another form of immorality, in this case sexual immorality. The attitude of adulterous is so negative that rarely people engage in it. The other Christian belief is the doctrine of the conditional immortality which states that the human soul is naturally mortal, and immortality is by God as a gift. Christians therefore, accept the consequences of immorality and turn towards God because their body is the temple of God.
Even with this, many Christians today are engaging in what might be considered morally not upright due to today’s diverse interpretations of the biblical teachings as many scriptures are never straight to the point and thus leaves a room for opinions and thus different ways of leading a Christian life.On the other hand, immorality in Hinduism is also a challenge though to a very minimal degree.. Hinduism being a polytheistic religion has traditions that are less absolute than those in Christianity. In Hinduism right and wrong are dictated more by ones social rank than their current deeds. This means that there are no equal judgments among the Hindus on immorality because the right and wrong are decided according to the stages of life, social rank and kinship.The caste system, which was invented in order to protecting their whiteness from being polluted with the black blood also, is a way in which the Hindus cope with immorality. This is because one had to marry and to labor in the caste into which one was born. This system tied the Hindus to the theory of soul-transmigration where your rebirth determines your caste and if you are with a black skin your punishment is living a poor and misery life.The use of children as sex slaves in Hindu temples is also an immoral practice in Hinduism and they cope with it because it began long ago where the children were used as prostitutes to bring money to their families. This was because the poor who did not afford to raise their children left them at the temple assuming that the children would have better lives with the priests.
This is because of the low status of women in India who are confirmed by the human development report. This status enables immorality to thrive in Hindu society; Hindu females are used by tourists because their husbands deserted them or trafficked through deception.
Another way through which the Hindus cope with immorality is through the fact of dowry related killings where if the groom demands for large sums of money, farm animals and found not sufficient the bride is harassed and made miserable. These rules are some of the tough ones but because the Hindus believe in them they have to live life full of immorality.
All in all It seems easier for Hindus to cope with immorality more because of the social set up that separates individuals naturally. Christians on the other hand seem to bear the bigger burden of living in a world that is becoming more secular day by day.
References
Fetzer, James H.. Render Unto Darwin Philosophical Aspects of the Christian Right's Crusade Against Science.. New York: Open Court, 2013. Print.
Irwin, William, and David Kyle Johnson. Introducing philosophy through pop culture: from Socrates to South Park, Hume to House. Chichester, UK: Wiley-Blackwell, 2010. Print.
Irwin, William, and David Kyle Johnson. Introducing philosophy through pop culture: from Socrates to South Park, Hume to House. Chichester, UK: Wiley-Blackwell, 2010. Print.
Mann, George. The immorality engine. New York: Tor, 2011. Print.
