Critical Review of J.L. Mackie's Perspective on Religious Ethics

Undoubtedly, religious ethics is one of the most important components of human life without which human society will lose its real identity, but today criticism of religious ethics and attempts to marginalize ethical propositions derived from religion have been used by many religion opponents and atheism leaders to prove the superiority of secular ethics over religious ethics and even justify atheism. J. L. Mackie, an atheist philosopher, is one of those who have criticized religious ethics for this purpose. Accordingly, the present study investigates his views in this regard. Based on the research findings, which is descriptive-analytic, Mackie's objections to religious ethics are somewhat based on his theoretical assumptions about God. In addition, his criticisms are more directed at the ethical propositions derived from the teachings of Christian clergy rather than religious ethics itself. Islamic ethics, as a perfect example of religious ethics, is quite capable of answering all Mackie's objections.

Keywords:

Religious ethics , weakening ethics , comprehensiveness of religious ethics , Mackie