The essay by Iris Murdoch, "Morality and Religion," is a very interesting essay with many points about morality that are good but then makes a mistake when trying to understand religion. What I understand of this essay is that Iris Murdoch the author is most likely not a very religious person. It seems this essay is arguing the point of ethics and religion are often fighting each other and that in order for religion to exist there must always be evil. Because we live in a world where there is always what we call evil then religion cannot be fairly question in this way. The most important battle that takes place in this essay is between the idea of religious morality and the idea of non-religious morality. This is a battle that is very important right now in the world because more people in America are seeming to be losing religion quickly.
Iris Murdoch in her Morality and Religion essays makes the definition of the virtues and the duties to be very different things. The idea of the virtue is that it comes from a religious lifestyle. Virtue is something that people live by and can never escape because God in religion sees all things and know all things. This is very clear in this Islamic religion because Islam is the key to virtue for Islamic state. Virtue in Islam is very important and the basis of what will lead to a good life. These virtues are things like helping the poor, being very patient and to keep your faith even in hard times. Iris Murdoch argues that virtue and duties are different because religion does not have to be as involved with duties. A person with no religion can have duties to be a good and moral person without the virtues that come constantly. The difference then is that virtue is like God who is always present and that duties are something that a person has for himself.
Because Iris Murdoch argues that religion can only exist and be useful when there is always evil in the world it sounds like she is arguing that when there is no religion there will also be possibly no evil in the world.