Can We Be Both Holy and Good?

Is being ethical the same thing as being a good person? Is being a good person the same as being ethical?

Does being religious imply that one will be good and or ethical? I think we can answer this one quickly. No. Being religious does not in itself mean that someone is good or ethical. The proof is in the pudding. Religious people the world over and over the centuries have shown that there isn't a necessary coupling between religiosity and goodness or ethicalness. Many religious people are very good people, but many not very good people are deeply religious. But, perhaps, that's not the point . . . or is it?

Can someone be ethical and not good? Ethics is not easy to define. But it has to do with principles of action, society (however, one construes that), and human flourishing (whether in a broad quasi-eschatological and teleological sense, or whether in an individualistic, granular present sense).

The first problem always is what exactly is good? There are many goods, satisfying hunger, laughing, peace, justice, engaging in fulfilling work, enjoying art, etc. Why are these good and is there an intrinsic ordering to them? Satisfying hunger is good but is undermined if to do so, I take food from someone else who needed that food to satisfy their hunger. So the greater good there would be abundance and solidarity so that there is enough for both of us and it is my aim to ensure we both get to satisfying our hunger and we don't try to hoard the abundance or excess. As we game it out the greater goods become intangible conditions we set so that we can optimize justice, peace, and the like so that we can all share resources fairly.

Ultimately, though, we need to plant our flag on the greatest possible good. Only such a good may be the true north star for any practical earthly conception of good.  Such a good must be a good in and for itself. It cannot be a good in any way dependent on it's utility--how useful or good it is for something. Such a good that is good in itself demands recognition as such and this is what we sense as the holy and the sacred. The Holy is the transcendent good beyond all practical conceptions of good. It is visible in this world, but not of this world, and cannot be accessed as a thing in the world. 

The irony then is it is the religious who necessarily preserve the sense we have the sacred and the holy, even when they fail at being good themselves. Though it then becomes the ultimate scandal when the ones who see the Good as the Holy fall short and bring scandal. Even worse, if goodness in itself is, at its root, distinct from utility, then there's an aspect of holiness that may seem divorced from the practical goods that we all appreciate. For instance, the holy person on their way to pray may be impatience and rude to the person interrupting them. 

The only way those who seek holiness can also reflect ultimate goodness is if they partner with those who seek goodness even at the expense of holiness. It seems like folly to expect any single human to be wholly holy and wholly good (in the practical sense). But as a corporate body of Christians, the tasks can be distributed as long as everyone understands their roles. That those who pursue practical goods understand that they do so at the expense of true devotion to the holy. And those who seek the path of holiness understand that their quest blinds them to the necessary practical goodness that should define the Christian. I suppose, though, in the long run, the true Christian strives not to neglect either holiness or goodness.