What is morality and where did it come from?

(4/6/2022)

I believe that most of mankind are “moral” and decent people, but I’ve often wondered why. Many people follow a religion that professes good morals and obedience to just laws, but are the rules of the religion the “reason” that those people are moral and decent? Or is it deeper than that? Is following the rules of a religion what makes someone a moral person? Or is morality something that’s instinctive to humans? I grew up catholic. I read the bible regularly. I went to Sunday school (which we called CCD) and church every Sunday. Is that how I became a moral person? I believe that I actually learned morality from my parents, and not the bible.

The bible does describe some really good ways to be moral. Things to do and not to do. Those lessons and stories though were written by humans. (For the purposes of this blog, I’m going to assume that those human authors were “inspired” by the Holy Spirit on what to write, since that’s what Catholics believe and I’m still Catholic.) The big question though is whether or not mankind would be moral and decent without the morality described in the bible.

I tend to believe that mankind was moral and decent before the written bible came along, but I don’t know. I believe our ancestors looked out for each other and their families just as decent people should. There was still “crime” in cave man days as the balance of the world was maintained - just like there is now – but I believe the natural instinct of humanity is for goodness. The Old Testament is full of stories about wars, barbarism, and sexual immorality. How much of the Old Testament is true and how much is fiction, is debatable. Growing up I believed that the Old Testament was mostly true accounts of people and events that happened before Jesus was born. Lately, I believe that most of it is fictional stories to make a point or teach a lesson. Regardless of the validity of the bible, the morality described in it is the basic, instinctual morality of humanity.

A few times growing up my dad and I talked about “moral absolutes” in the world. They came up again last night – in a conversation with a friend – and it inspired this whole blog. A “moral absolute” is something that is wrong or right with no explanation as to the “reason” why it is wrong or right. It just is. Even without religion, I believe there are moral absolutes in the universe that mankind instinctively knows and follows. Murder is an example of an absolute. Most humans believe that killing innocent people for no reason is a bad thing. (Who is “innocent” is what muddies the water.) Why is murder a bad thing? It just is. No one can really “explain” it. I believe that even athiests believe that certain things, like murder, are wrong (although I don’t know any athiests anymore to verify that). So, my overall belief is that as long as you have moral absolutes, a society can survive, even without religion to profess and teach morality.

p.s. Why societies and civilizations rise and fall is another blog for another day but is related to morality.