virtue and passion

In Nietzsche's "Morality as Anti-Nature" he says that religion eliminates passion. I understand where he is coming from when he says that. But he was coming from a time where religion put a lot of restrictions on people. Today religion, although many times not presented that way, helps those suffering from the unexplained. Much of my extended family is Catholic and they do not use their religion to judge anyone else but as a source of love for others. For many people their faith is their passion, so Nietzsche’s assumption that religion keeps people from pursuing their passion, most likely comes from the church’s strong hold on people at the time. Today the church is more faith based and less overbearing in people’s lives. Nietzsche also probably saw religion as much more intrusive than the average person because of his father’s and grandfathers’ strong affiliation.

Although it may sound extremely pessimistic I don’t believe anyone is a purely virtuous person. No act is completely selfless. Even the acts that appear to be completely selfless have a hint of selfishness to them. A person may sacrifice something as great as their life in order to help another person but in the end they are gaining respect and admiration for themselves. There are definitely people out there who are more sacrificial than others, but overall there is no purely virtuous person.