Where does morality come from? I mean, when we think about what’s right, how do we decide? I’m no expert in philosophy, but it seems to me that this is not as simple a question as it might seem, when you start to dig into it a little. At first blush it’s easy: something just “is” right or wrong. Okay, but why? Most of us got our initial sense of right and wrong from our parents and extended family. (Aunts, uncles, grandparents and friends). But that ‘s not the origin; they got their morality from somewhere. Trace it back to…what? If not the primary cause, it was likely influenced by religion. But that itself isn’t enough; each religion claims it’s the “correct” one, which by definition means that those adherents believe that all others are wrong. OK, I know, some religions are more ecumenical than others, but even the most inclusive still believe that at the core, they are more “right” than anyone else. So if that’s the source of morality then again, by definition nearly everyone is immoral, since any one religion only represents a small percentage of the total world population. And even the most hardcore believers would admit that at least some people in other religions have a sense of morality.
So religion doesn’t seem right as the source of morality; what about God? Maybe since religion is an attempt to relate to God, is God the source of morality? I’ll save that for next time.
