Section 8.1: The role of conscience and why some Christians believe conscience is the most important guide in making moral decisions

What do Christians think about conscience?

Christians believe that every human being has a conscience and that it is given by God to us all. Some say it is the voice of God within us. "Pray for us. We are sure that we have a clear conscience and desire to live honourably in every way." (Hebrews)

Acting on conscience - point 1

Christians use conscience when they are faced with a moral dilemma, e.g., although abortions can be obtained legally, no doctor would be compelled to carry out an abortion if their conscience tells them that abortions are morally wrong.

Only using conscience to make moral decisions - point 3

Conscience also allows you to think about what God would want you to do: listen to your conscience (inner voice which guides you to decide what decision you would feel comfortable with). Conscience can be used when other sources of advice cannot, e.g. if decision was very personal, could not find answer in Bible or would not feel comfortable in asking priest

Against only using conscience - point 3

Conscience can be used when other sources of advice cannot, but it is useful to ask for advice as they might have some knowledge that you don't, and sometimes listening to advice from others makes things easier to understand.

Only using conscience to make moral decisions - point 1

Conscience could be the most important guide for making moral decisions: formed from education, background, parental influence.

Against only using conscience - point 2

Conscience is your inner voice, but it might be biased towards doing what you want (selfish things), so you might prefer to use rules given by other authorities, like the Bible or the Church.

Conscience and obedience - point 2

For this reason, many Christians have refused to fight in wars, saying that killing is against God's moral code. They are called 'conscientious objectors', because they object to fighting as a matter of conscience: "A human being must always obey the certain judgement of his conscience" (Catechism of the Catholic Church)

Acting on conscience - point 2

If a Christian thought that they had heard the voice of God commanding them to kill a brutal dictator, they would see that the Bible says that it is wrong to murder. However, the dictator may be murdering hundreds of innocent people.

What is a conscience?

It is a way in which people, both religious and non-religious, can judge their moral actions. It makes us feel guilty if we do things that are wrong. It is the inner part of a person where the sense of what is right/wrong is developed. It is a kind of guardian, prompting the believer to respond rightly to their moral code.

Problems of conscience

Some believe that conscience is imperfect and does not always work properly. They say it is an useful tool to help people to decide right from wrongs, but that it is not always a perfect guide.

Against only using conscience - point 1

Some say don't just use conscience to make moral decisions: conscience is formed by education but you might not have understood it correctly, or someone might have given you the wrong advice.

Conscience and obedience - point 1

The role of conscience is making moral decisions is very significant for Christians. They believe that they should look at what the Bible and the Church say about a moral issue and then follow their conscience. Therefore, Christians should never act against their conscience.

Acting on conscience - point 3

To decide what to do and what teaching to follow, the Christian would use their conscience, which would probably tell them that murder is wrong and that Christians should never use wrong means, whatever the end result might be. This happened in real life, when Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a Christian, joined a plot to assassinate Hitler. The plot failed and Bonhoeffer was executed.

Only using conscience to make moral decisions - point 2

When using conscience: also think about possible consequences of decisions and conscience would make you feel in different outcomes, e.g. conscience would make you feel bad if you made the wrong decision.