Horizons of Thought
Volume:1 Issue: 1, Fall & Winter 2014-15

Jürgen Habermas’ treatment of religion is based on a perception of rationality as a substitution for religion. He interprets the development of human thought as a process of increasing differentiation. Within such a framework, he divides human history to three phases, marked by their specific form of understanding of the world: mythical world-image, religious worldview, and rational understanding of the world. His thesis is that in the modern era, religious worldview has lost its legitimacy, and religious language has become meaningless to the modern man; therefore, it has to be replaced by modern, rational understanding and language. This essay shows the flaws of Habermas’ idea by analyzing and criticizing his arguments. The author concludes that rationality in all its forms, whether in natural domains or social areas, descriptive or normative, is incapable of replacing religion.

The relationship between religion and ethics has been of special and long-standing concern to both philosophers and religious thinkers. Not only is there much overlap between the two areas, but also how their proper relationship can be understood is a question that has triggered much debate. Thinkers of both sides confront themselves to the question: is ethics independent of religion and has no relation to it or ethics has never been fulfilled without relation to religion? Is religion is a source of ethics or ethics a source of religion? If God is the one who commands and forbids, how are we to understand the ethics of his commands and forbiddances? Are there moral standards that even God must acknowledge? Or does the command of God make something morally binding? Can we imagine ethics without God? Will material worldview necessarily result in carelessness? If religion and ethics are complementary, what are the necessities of religion for ethics and what are the necessities of ethics for religion? Can we consider ethics to be a part of religion? Is the relation between ethics and religion contradictory, complementary or one and the same?
Key Words: religion, ethics, moral standards, theologians, philosophers, realism''s view, unrealism''s view.

This paper is an attempt to delineate the relation between Islam and natural morality. It first, in a Kantian but non-reductive manner, identifies Islam with morality, defining Islam as the morally prescribed relationship with Allah. Pointing out the incompetence of this moralist view of Islam to stand the test of the Islamic Scriptures, the paper then takes on the task of explicating the sense in which Islam is moral rather than morality. Finally, Islam is identified as a system of religious ethics carefully built simultaneously on the basis of moral and prudential considerations.

The impact of Islamic civilization on the European civilization is undeniable. Muslims'' philosophical, theological and scientific thoughts that were introduced to the Medieval West had a remarkable impact on different aspects of European life. Ibn Sina, Ibn Rushd and Ghazali''s works left a tremendous influence on Western Medieval philosophy and theology. Mathematics, physics, chemistry, astronomy and medicine are other areas of influence. Some Western scholars in the Middle Age studied Arabic, and translated Islamic sciences into Latin. Through trade and crusade wars too some aspects of Islamic culture were transmitted to the West.

One method for building a stable family is learning and practicing adaptation skills. In this article, we will discuss some cognitive, emotional and behavioral skills that establish congenial relationships in the family. As a cognitive skill, Islam encourages believers to be optimistic about others and even the world, and refrain from being pessimistic about others even if they see mistakes from them. Having a sense of realism is another cognitive skill which helps couples understand the reality of this world and control their expectations in family relationships. Islamic teachings also have a positive impact on human sympathy and emotion in dealing with one’s spouse and children. In the religion of Islam, a part of having true faith in God is having love for one’s spouse and children. Practicing such emotional skills as gratitude and gratefulness also have psychobehavioral effects on family life. Verbal and nonverbal behavioral skills can also lead to the following increase in the psychological capacity of spouses, prevention of abnormal behavior and emotional problems, a stable family with congenial relationships, and a solid basis for moral training and acquiring divine virtues.

We are living in the age of information technology development and exchange by virtue of which an extensive mass of data is being transferred from one point of the world to another, at many times in less than even a single second. This trend of information exchange covers a very wide range of life-surfaces including privacy, family, individuality, sociality, education, politics, ethics, economy, law, and so on. Today, cyberspace is the most exciting and dynamic means for information transfer and exchange all around the world. Since all aspects of life are influenced by the cyber in one way or another, the impact of this virtual system on all dimensions of human life does not seem far from expectation. Therefore, our lifestyle may be shaped and colored by cyberspace to the greatest extent. This article intends to evaluate the question of virtual space and to indicate the range, frequency and depth of cyber impacts on family lifestyle. It also seeks to indicate whether and how religious and moral teachings and values can be transmitted to the scope of family life through cyberspace.