Where Do Moral Values or Morality comes from?

Question

If your a Christian you might say that your morality comes from God but as a atheist I don't know how to explain in scientific ways but I will try?

My morality comes from empathetic behaviour towards other human beings in an unconscious bonding process. You all have brains and empathy, you do not need a deity to enforce morality. Morals do not come from religion or someone telling you something is right or wrong, it comes from your own judgement and should not be censored the way it is in today's society

Most atheists I know get their morals from empathy. You think about how what you're doing would make another feel or what kind of impact it would have on their life and act accordingly. Frankly, if the only reason you have morals is because you're afraid of what God will do to you, you're less moral than most atheists.

Answer 1

Research shows that the reason humans struggle with emotion to find equitable solutions is pinpointed the region of the brain called the insular cortex, or insula, which is also the seat of emotional reactions.



The fact that the brain has such a robust response to unfairness shows that sensing unfairness is a basic evolved capacity.



The emotional response to unfairness pushes people from extreme inequity and drives them to be fair. This observation shows our basic impulse to be fair isn't a complicated thing that we learn.



It therefore fully illustrates that all humans have morals controlled by the brain and that Christians are entirely wrong to try and claim morals as their own!!!!



But Christians found a way round it!



Government statistics show that Christians are vastly over represented in prisons for sexual, violent and fraudulent crime whilst year on year government figures show atheists make up only 2% of the prison population!



The Catholic Church is paying millions in compensation for the sex/paedophile crimes of their priests alone!



Christians are vastly over represented in the divorce courts!



Christians invented the concept of sin and then the idea that you could sin, ask forgiveness, get pardoned and start with a clean sheet!



So no surprise that they are so expert at it is it‽



A Christian is a man that feels repentance on Sunday for what he did on Saturday and is going to do on Monday. - Thomas Russell Ybarra

Answer 2

You can expand on your analysis even more. Humans are social beings who have developed the evolutionary advantage of empathy and other emotions that make our social relationships possible. It is these social relationships that gave modern humans an evolutionary advantage to survive. If man didn't work together the species would not have survived because things like hunting parties, agriculture and various human advancements required cooperation among individuals.



All social animals, from insects like ants, to the herds on the plains around the world have developed "rules of behavior" that further the survival of the entire group. Bottom line is what we call morals and the development of these morals are a instinct found in the species and is a result of evolution, not some divine command.

Answer 3

Wow. I would be terrified if we had to rely on each persons individual empathy capacity to define morality. Way too variable

Morality is also a thought process. It's a decision most times, not just a feeling.

And I do believe the ability to feel empathy, intellectual reasoning, and most everything else is part of our amazing design!

Answer 4

Mankind was moral ( a relative term that must be understood within the context of each society and culture) well before the advent of Christianity or even the advent of the Hebrews arriving in the Middle East after they left N Africa.

The Christian concept of morality is a borrowed one taken from Aristotle and his writings on ethics.

The cultures of Asia had codes of social morality and ethics long before European cultures were organized and existed.

That which might be understood as being universally moral might be understood as that which promotes what is beneficial to all of humanity or at least to the vast majority.

Answer 5

Dr Fraans de Waal and Barbara King both view human morality as having grown out of primate sociality. Michael Shermer says the following characteristics are shared by humans and other social animals, particularly the great apes:

"attachment and bonding, cooperation and mutual aid, sympathy and empathy, direct and indirect reciprocity, altruism and reciprocal altruism, conflict resolution and peace making, deception and deception detection, community concern and caring about what others think about you, and awareness of and response to the social rules of the group"



De Waal contends that all social animals have had to restrain or alter their behaviour for group living to be worthwhile. Pre-moral sentiments evolved in primate societies as a method of restraining individual selfishness and building more cooperative groups. For any social species, the benefits of being part of an altruistic group should outweigh the benefits of individualism.

Answer 6

They come from our sense of empathy and the general desire to be happy and see other people happy as well. With that as the foundation our sense of morality evolves and adapts to different societies etc... This is why it was morally acceptable to do some things we would consider horrible in our very recent past but would never allow today.

The moral code outlined in the bible is horrible and I am very glad that our society does not look to it for moral guidance anymore and I hope it never will again.

Hope this helps.

Answer 7

Why do some atheists always say the same BS and contradict themselves when attacking Christianity.



You say that Christianity allows for a rapist to go to heaven FOR ONLY saying they beleive in God. Which you say is morally problematic.



THEN you say that the only reason Christians act morally is fear of God's punishments. Which is contradictory to you first claim.



HERE are the facts. Some people act morally and some people do not, and religion has very little to do with it. Your claim to be MORE moral, just sounds less humble. And humility is generally tied with morality.



So stop making yourselves look bad.



In fact, here is some advice. STOP ATTACKING RELIGION!!! SUre defend your beliefs (or lack thereof) but stop attacking. Why? Because it makes you appear to be exactly like the fundies.



For being a deist, I now get to hear that I am going to hell from the Christian fundies and that I am a delusional moron from the atheist fundies. Sorry, but I start having difficulty seeing the difference.

Answer 8

If you think morals came from the god of Abraham, try walking into Egypt as a jew and breaking any or the (non theist) commandments like killing, stealing, committing adultery, etc. before that god existed and see what happens.



If you need any more proof morals don't come fro god, visit the legal section in your local library.

Answer 9

The Moral Values Store. On sale, if you're lucky.

Answer 10

Human instinct includes a sense of fairness, bonding, group identification, greed, paranoia, and a kind of killer mode, where anger can boil into an irrational rage. All.



So, if you only tried to rely on instinct, that's fun to imagine, and movies do that, such as all the endless planet of the apes versions.

Answer 11

What a load of garbage? No two people feel "empathy" for the same thing. Some of the worst criminals in history justify their crimes because of morality. You have no natural tendency any greater than anyone else towards morality, you aren't capable as no man is capable.

Answer 12

One way to think of this, is to visualize human morality as a stereo:



Natural selection has "built" the stereo and ensures we all have the same "dials." There's a dial for "charity", for "fairness", for "honesty", etc.



Now...what "level" each of those dials is tuned to is determined by our culture and our personal experiences.....



Because of the experiences each of us has had, your "honesty dial" might be set to 10...so you'd never ever tell a lie, not even to save a life. I might have it set to 8...so, I'd usually tell the truth, except to save lives (like telling the Nazis Ms. Frank isn't hiding in my attic)....another person might have their setting a 2...so, they will only be honest to close friends, and have no problem lying to anyone else.

Answer 13

i believe moral values comes from humans with shared experiences of the same values varying from different beliefs and culture, one value can be moral to one man but not with another man.

Answer 14

if not from god then a person makes it up. so what empathy are people using then when they agree to kill babies in their mothers womb. so then by your reasoning rome was right to enforce people to be their slaves and to kill people as sport in the arena.



you athiest an your ignorance is astounding

Answer 15

Everything in existence comes from nature.

Answer 16

no, it's God who is the source of objective morality

Answer 17

Humanity has developed our "morals" as we go along. We are still changing them.

They certainly do not come from old books of superstitious origin.

Answer 18

they come from you and your beliefs in doing good.