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THE RELIGIOUS BELIEFS OF THE EDUCATED CLASSES IN PROTESTANT GERMANY...
to an extreme the traditional reduction of the function of religion to morality
and ethics. He did this by rejecting the concept of purpose as incompatible
with purely formal moral law that makes absolute demands, thus exposing the
limits of morality.
Furthermore, Kant declared that morality inevitably leads towards religion,
by which it expands into the idea of a potent, external moral lawgiver, in whose
will the ultimate purpose (creation) is what at the same time can and should
be “the ultimate purpose of mankind.” !”* Indeed, “at the level of religion, as the
highest cause fulfilling these laws”, morality “represents an object of venera¬
tion”, and appears “in its majesty.”'” This, however, must not obscure the fact
that religion owes its existence to the human weakness for making actions
depend on ultimate purposes, culminating in the idea of the highest good.
“Religion (seen subjectively) is recognizing that all our duties are divine com¬
mandments. The religion which demands that I must know beforehand that
something is divine commandment in order to acknowledge it as my duty is
revealed religion (or one which requires revelation); by contrast, one which
demands that I must know that something is a duty before I can acknowledge
it as a divine commandment is a natural religion." Kant, it is true, no longer
recognized the validity of certain religious duties vis-a-vis God. This included
the comprehensiveness, rational demythologizing of all its supernatural dog¬
mas and the theses of the "moral improvement of human kind", which "is the
real purpose of all rational religion.” !”
Kant repeatedly and in many different ways defended true morality against a
false traditional concept of religion. Although morality leads towards religion,
that is, to the recognition of duties as divine commandments, for Kant “divine”
did not mean “literally given by God”, but signified something as compelling
and dignified as if it had originated from a perfect being. Thus for Kant the
concepts of God, divine laws, holiness and so on referred to ideals created by
man out of the need for moral improvement; ultimately, they were ideals which
arose out of the nature of man. The following note by Kant, dating from the
mid 1790s, is also characteristic: “Religion is the highest recognition by man
of his duties as (tamquam) divine commandments. This does not require one
to believe that there is a God; it is enough for one to make for oneself an idea
of such a being ...”’”” In this sense he interpreted the essence of Christianity
173 Ibid. 6.
14 Ibid., 8.
175 Ibid., 170f.
16 Ibid., 122f.
77 KANT, Schriften, AA, vol. 19, 646f.
* 121 +