What Is a Scripture Claim?
Moral issue: Whether a text should be accepted as morally authoritative without careful examination.
Method for examining scripture
Read analysisScripture & sacred texts
Scripture & Sacred Texts
This section examines scriptures, sacred writings and other influential primary texts from religious and philosophical belief systems.
Inclusion does not imply that every text is regarded as divinely revealed or sacred by its tradition. Works such as the Stoic writings are included as important primary philosophical texts rather than as revealed scripture or a sacred canon.
Each passage is considered through its wording, historical context, traditional interpretation, ethical implications and reasoned analysis.
How texts are examined
General Method
Methodology and principles for analysing scripture, sacred writings and primary texts
Belief system
Stoicism
Primary philosophical texts
An ancient Greek and Roman philosophical tradition centred on reason, virtue, self-command, acceptance of what cannot be controlled, and living consistently with nature.
What Is Within Our Control?
Moral issue: How should people respond to events they cannot control?
Control, judgement and responsibility
Read analysisLife Is Shaped by Judgement
Moral issue: To what extent do judgements shape human experience?
Change and judgement
Read analysisDo Not Postpone Living
Moral issue: How should awareness of limited time affect present conduct?
Time and mortality
Read analysisIs Life Short, or Is Time Wasted?
Moral issue: What counts as wasting a life?
Time, distraction and priorities
Read analysisCleanthes on Universal Reason
Moral issue: Does the order of nature justify belief in providence?
Universal order, reason and providence
Read analysisBelief system
Socratic Philosophy
Scripture, sacred writings and primary texts
A philosophical approach centred on disciplined questioning, intellectual humility, ethical self-examination and testing claims for contradiction.
The Unexamined Life
Moral issue: Does a worthwhile life require continual examination of one's beliefs and conduct?
Self-examination and moral responsibility
Read analysisShould Wrongdoing Be Answered with Wrongdoing?
Moral issue: Can injustice ever justify committing another injustice?
Justice, retaliation and moral consistency
Read analysisBelief system
Platonism
Scripture, sacred writings and primary texts
The philosophical tradition derived from Plato, including his accounts of knowledge, reality, Forms, the soul, virtue, justice, education and the Good.
The Allegory of the Cave
Moral issue: How can people recognise that familiar beliefs may be partial, manipulated or false?
Appearance, reality, education and knowledge
Read analysisThe Form of the Good
Moral issue: Is there an objective and highest standard of goodness?
Goodness, truth and intelligibility
Read analysisDoes the Soul Survive Death?
Moral issue: What evidence would justify belief that consciousness or the soul survives bodily death?
Death, soul and immortality
Read analysisBelief system
Wicca
Scripture, sacred writings and primary texts
A modern Pagan religion associated with reverence for nature, seasonal ritual, Goddess and God symbolism, ritual practice, magic and personal ethical responsibility.
The Wiccan Rede and the Principle of Harm
Moral issue: Is avoiding harm sufficient as a complete ethical rule?
Freedom, harm and personal responsibility
Read analysisThe Charge of the Goddess
Moral issue: What authority should devotional experience have when making claims about reality?
The Goddess, freedom and sacred experience
Read analysisWhat Is a Wiccan Book of Shadows?
Moral issue: How should private or initiatory religious texts be evaluated and used responsibly?
Religious authority, ritual and transmitted tradition
Read analysisDid Wicca Survive from an Ancient Witch Religion?
Moral issue: Should a meaningful modern religion depend on proving an ancient and continuous origin?
Origins, historical evidence and religious identity
Read analysisBelief system
Paganism
Scripture, sacred writings and primary texts
A broad umbrella for diverse modern religious traditions that may draw on pre-Christian religions, polytheism, nature reverence, seasonal observance, reconstruction, revival and contemporary spiritual practice.
What Is Modern Paganism?
Moral issue: Can a broad religious umbrella be accurately described without imposing one creed on all its members?
Religious diversity, nature and identity
Read analysisNature and Divinity in Modern Paganism
Moral issue: Does regarding nature as sacred lead to better treatment of animals, ecosystems and the environment?
Nature, divinity and environmental responsibility
Read analysisDrawing Down the Moon and Pagan Diversity
Moral issue: How should minority religions be studied without either demonising them or accepting every claim uncritically?
Religious diversity, experience and documentation
Read analysisThe Spiral Dance and Earth-Based Spirituality
Moral issue: Can religious ritual and magical language contribute to ethical or political change without being treated as scientific evidence?
Earth spirituality, power, ritual and social change
Read analysisBelief system
Taoism
Scripture, sacred writings and primary texts
A Chinese philosophical and religious tradition centred on the Dao, naturalness, balance, simplicity, flexibility and acting without forced or excessive interference.
The Dao That Can Be Named
Moral issue: How confidently should people speak about realities that may exceed language and direct knowledge?
Language, reality and the limits of definition
Read analysisWu Wei: Acting Without Forcing
Moral issue: When is restraint wiser than intervention, and when does inaction become neglect?
Wu wei, non-forcing and effective action
Read analysisSoftness Can Overcome Hardness
Moral issue: Is gentleness more effective than force in responding to conflict and adversity?
Flexibility, humility and resilience
Read analysisZhuangzi's Butterfly Dream
Moral issue: How certain can people be about perception, identity and the nature of reality?
Identity, dreams, reality and uncertainty
Read analysisThe Cook Ding Story and Skilled Action
Moral issue: What makes skilled action appear effortless, and can mastery be separated from ethical purpose?
Skill, attention, naturalness and effortless action
Read analysisBelief system
Confucianism
Scripture, sacred writings and primary texts
A Chinese ethical, philosophical and religious tradition centred on moral cultivation, humane relationships, education, ritual, family responsibilities and government through virtue.
Learning and Repeated Practice
Moral issue: Does education produce virtue, or can knowledge remain separate from ethical conduct?
Learning, practice and moral development
Read analysisReciprocity and Treatment of Others
Moral issue: Is personal preference a sufficient guide for deciding how other people should be treated?
Reciprocity, empathy and restraint
Read analysisGovernment Through Virtue
Moral issue: Can good leadership replace enforceable laws and institutional accountability?
Government, law, punishment and moral example
Read analysisMencius and the Child at the Well
Moral issue: Does spontaneous compassion show that human nature is fundamentally good?
Compassion and the beginnings of morality
Read analysisThe People Are More Important Than the Ruler
Moral issue: Does a ruler lose legitimacy when government seriously harms or abandons the people?
Political legitimacy and public welfare
Read analysisBelief system
Jainism
Scripture, sacred writings and primary texts
An ancient Indian religious and philosophical tradition centred on nonviolence, truthfulness, non-attachment, self-discipline, karma and liberation from rebirth.
All Living Beings Desire Life
Moral issue: How far should moral concern extend beyond human beings?
Nonviolence and moral concern for living beings
Read analysisAhimsa and the Limits of Nonviolence
Moral issue: Is complete nonviolence possible, and when may defensive or protective force be justified?
Nonviolence, intention and indirect harm
Read analysisNon-Possession and Attachment
Moral issue: How much property and consumption can be justified while others suffer deprivation and environmental damage?
Possession, attachment and consumption
Read analysisMany-Sided Truth and Intellectual Humility
Moral issue: Does recognising multiple perspectives imply that all claims are equally true?
Perspective, truth and non-absolutism
Read analysisRight Faith, Knowledge and Conduct
Moral issue: Can correct belief be separated from evidence and ethical conduct?
Belief, knowledge, conduct and liberation
Read analysis