The case for secular morality

Photo by shraga kopstein

I’ve been having some debates on morality. Where does it comes from? Can it be done through a combination of empathy and rationality, or is it entirely informed by religion?

Even though I’m not religious, proponents of religion-derived morality will argue that this is so embedded into culture that I cannot help but be affected. I may not THINK that my morality is based on religion, but culture is, and therefore it has transferred over to me by default. I’ve inherited it by merely existing within the landscape.

There’s likely some truth there. I’m sure that some of the moral ideas that I believe I’ve come independently were, in fact, informed by the society I grew up in. To insist that I’m entirely resistant to this would be misguided.

But how would we go about evaluating to what extent?

My family grew up in the Soviet Union, with the religion of atheism. By default, so did I. Truthfully, it wasn’t so much of a denial of the existence of God for me in my formative …