| As well as being a huge fan of freedom, I'm a huge fan of the truth.
To find the truth about morality, we have to start from a Darwinian context. Why do humans even care about morality? Why don't we just act like cats or alligators; care for our young and then avoid one another until it's time to mate?
Humans who are able to work together for the good of the group have a tremendous advantage over humans who keep to themselves. We know our super-specialized society would have never developed if everyone did their own thing.
So, we know we evolved to be moral creatures. We see similar evolution is canines, whales, elephants, some cats, and (of course) apes.
Our morality has evolved to assist in our survival. Actions which help the group are seen as good while actions which hinder the group are bad. Help and hinder can very wildly, but today group does mean society for one simple reason: Laws are created on a societal level and we tend to legislate according to our morality.
So, if everyone suddenly decided that murder was okay, then it would be okay... and we've seen hundreds of examples of this through out history... from ancient wars to the modern day death penalty. We tend to instinctively shy from murder, but we are also capable of convincing ourselves that killing can be for the good of the group.
Morals don't come from religion. Instead, religion seeks to take credit for morality. This is obvious by the fact our morality changes. Death penalties come and go. Acceptable levels of casualties in conflict change. Richard Dawkins points out in the God Delusion that Dick Chenney, when talking about the handfuls of civilial casualties in the early days of the Iraq war, would have been seen as a bleeding heart liberaly hippy peacenik by the standards of WWII where large scale civilian bombing was the norm.
We decide our morals by making collective (on a societal level) interpretations of our social instincts. |