Evolution Of Morality

Morality has been a growing fundamental part of our lives for centuries. Today’s political events such as a woman being able to run for a high position of authority show how morality has and will continue to change over time. Since the 1600’s the social definition of morality has been altered by human discovery and evolution. Our modern definition of morality today is understanding what is right or wrong, or good and bad behavior characterized around respect, and the well being of other people. Since the 1600’s, modern society has not become more or less moral, but the definition of morality has endured numerous changes from being strictly determined by religion and the bible, to scientific human evolution that has affected societies approach towards right and wrong, or good and bad behavior.

Puritan society in the 1600’s was heavily influenced by religion, therefore their definition of morality was guided strictly by the bible. In The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, religion plays a big role in the lives of the Puritans and how they treat others. While Hester and Pearl were walking home, a children of the Puritans said, “Behold, verily, there is the woman of the scarlet letter; and, of a truth, moreover, there is the likeness of the scarlet letter running along by her side! Come, therefore, and let us fling mud at them!” (Hawthorne 70). These Puritan children have been brought up by a strong religious background, and have learned to treat sinners poorly. They humiliate Hester and Pearl by signaling them out to be ‘the woman of the scarlet letter,’ and ‘the likeness of the scarlet letter.’ After signaling Hester and Pearl out, the children chose to ‘fling mud’ at them. Not only is that seen to be morally wrong in modern society, but for a child to be treating a grown woman this way is even worse. Modern day children are taught to respect other, and essentially “treat others how you would like to be treated,” Puritan children were influenced and taught to act according to the bible and to see sinners as bad people.

In modern day society, sinners are not punished with public humiliation like they were in the Puritan society. Hawthorne depicts the Puritans to be mean and ruthless when it comes to religious punishment for sinners. While Hester was being publicly humiliated on the scaffold, a woman yelled, “This woman has brought shame upon us all, and ought to die” (Hawthorne 36). Other than having to wear a letter “A” on her breast to differentiate her from everybody else, she is put infront of everybody to be punished and insulted. The woman feels like hester’s sin has ‘brought shame’ upon the Puritan society, and should be punished with death. Back in the 1600’s, acts like adultery were seen to be a crime, morally incorrect, and punishable by death, while today, although it is still seen to be morally bad, it is not a crime and is certainly not punishable with death. In the Puritan society, religious morality had a heavy impact on how sins and crimes were dealt with and how people were punished, while today religion morality has faded away from having an impact on how crimes should be punished. As a result, religion had a big influence on how society functioned morally. Since religion has lost weight in our modern day lives, the social definition of morality revolves around respect, and the well being of other people.

In The Crucible by Arthur Miller, religion also plays a big role in the lives of the Puritans. Since the Puritans’ definition of morality was based on the bible, acts such as reading the bible and participating in regularly religious functions were seen to be morally correct, and acts such as sinning and not following the bible were seen to be morally incorrect. After Proctor explains why he has not attended church recently, Mr. Hale replies, “A Christian on Sabbath Day must be in church” (Miller 62). In the Puritan society, no matter the issue, anything took a backseat to religion. Proctor’s wife was sick and needed help, yet Mr. Hale does not excuse the reason for his absence and says he ‘must’ attend church on sundays. Missing church was seen to be morally incorrect, although proctors absence was from simply working to support his family. In the 1600’s religion took preference over any problem, while today, modern society would see Proctors reason for absence morally correct because his intentions were right. Another example of religious morality compared to modern day morality is when Mr. Hale asks Proctor, “Do you know your Commandments?” (Miller 63). Not reading the bible and not knowing your commandments was a sin and morally incorrect among Puritans and the Christian religion. Since Proctor was unable to recite the commandments, he was seen to be immoral and unfaithful. In the 1600’s not reading the bible was morally wrong and a sin, where in modern day society, religion and the bible are not as much as an influence on our lives as it used to be, therefore not reading it wouldn’t be morally wrong or a crime.

Since the Puritan times, the definition of morality has undergone several alterations due to human discovery and evolution. The Religion and Science: Whose History is Right? academic journal by James Pilcher, addresses the change in social morality from being heavily influenced by religion, to being changed by a loss and gain of religious beliefs from scientific discovery. James Pilcher explains how the social definition of morality has changed over time due to a lack of religious presence in modern day society, and an advance in scientific discovery. James doesn’t just explain the “how,” but the “why” religion began to fade away as scientific discoveries grew.  Religion was popular not only because it contained a version of the upcoming of humans, but also because the bible was the answer to new unsolved questions. For example, in The Crucible, when Goody Putnam has six miscarriages and believes it was the devil’s work. The Puritans lacked the technology to find out why she had that many miscarriages, so their religious moral reasoning lead them to believe it was the devil. Modern day technology is advanced enough to find out the cause of all the miscarriages, therefore, scientific moral reasoning was able to answer to these unsolved questions. As science grew, the amount religious believers decreased. Many of the questions that were left unsolved by the bible were being answered with science. As the population left religion and began to adapt science, the definition of morality changed as well. People stopped using the bible as answers to what was right and wrong, and began to use science instead.

Today, religion has less of an influence on our lives, as it did back in the Puritan era. Defending Religious Freedoms by Hillary Clinton, addresses how she supports the idea of people being able to practice their own religion beliefs. She explains how if she were to be elected president she would promote and provide resources for religious freedoms, as opposed to her opponent Donald Trump, who has opposing view on religious freedom. In the 1600’s, it was seen to be morally incorrect to have opposed religious beliefs to those of the church, while in modern day society it’s morally acceptable to practice your own religious beliefs. For example, in The Crucible, Danforth tells Proctor he must either be with the church or against it. In the Puritan society, straying from the church and religion to other beliefs was morally wrong. Today, social morality allows us to freely practice our personal beliefs with the First Amendment.

Apart from just writing Defending Religious Freedoms, Hillary Clinton represents a change in mortality since the 1600’s. For the Puritans, it was morally right to treat women as less than men, where today’s morality has allowed Hillary to run for a high position of authority alongside a man. This moral change from the 1600’s to the present day has allowed women to have more power in their communities. In the Puritan society, it was seen to be immoral for women to have power in the community. For example in The Scarlet Letter, all positions of high authority are held by men, while the women are only allowed so much social freedom. Today’s society has found it morally fair to provide women with the same opportunities and social freedoms to hold high positions of authority.

From the Puritan times in the 1600’s to modern day society, the social definition has undergone many changes from human discovery in both the fields of science and religion. Since the 1600’s, religion offered a morally answer for arousing questions among the community as time went by. When events such as the enlightenment happened, a shift from religion to science grew among the people. Science was able to answer the unsolved questions that religion could not answer. These scientific discoveries caused religion to fade from the average person’s life, and slowly changed the social definition of morality from being strictly guided by the bible, to being revolved around the well being of other people. As a result, people today have not changed to be  more or or less moral, but the social definition of morality has changed affecting our approach towards right and wrong, or good and bad behavior.

Morality Today And in Puritan Times