Many years ago, I played basketball before work with a co-worker who was recently returned from an LDS Mission to Chile.  Once, when a vendor gave me a couple of tickets on short notice, I took him to a Jazz game.  When I picked him up he had his Book of Mormon with him to study during the game.  I lost track of him a few months later so I have no idea if he ever mellowed some in his religious fervor, but he certainly had a pocketful of it then. 

As you can guess, religious discussions were a prominent part of our morning workouts.  He was quite convinced that he could make me see the light regarding the truthfulness of the LDS Church and he tried a variety of tricks to accomplish that.  I’m quite convinced that he consulted with his returned missionary friends on a regular basis for new ways to approach this heathen.

I took most of his attempts in stride but one approach really annoyed me. 

“Yeah, Cap’n, it must be nice to be you.” He told me one morning.  “No goals, no morals, no direction.  Just drift through life and do whatever you want, answering to no one, no consequences to your actions.  Yep, must be nice to not have to live up to anything.”

I reminded him that I was his boss and didn’t get in that position by having no goals or direction.  Beyond that, where could I begin to debunk the absurd proposition that without God or religion, I couldn’t possibly have morals?   No one who’s ever cracked open a history book can argue that God and religion aren’t behind most of evil in the world but I was reluctant to go down such a pedestrian road.

Let’s try this road instead; it’s been said that true character can be judged by what we do when no one is looking.  I like that estimation and I don’t see why it wouldn’t apply to the eye in the sky too.

It’s clear to me that human beings are born knowing right from wrong in a very fundamental way.  It may be as simple as survival instinct.  We don’t want to be killed or stolen from or otherwise harmed by others so we recognize that if we want to be immune from those things we must first start by not perpetrating them ourselves.  Of course, this approach does not guarantee us immunity from bad stuff but it does greatly improve our odds.

Whether you believe that a divine being crafted our moral views or we picked it up from the teachings of organized religion, either view holds that we need religion to curb nature’s vices.

Either view ignores the fact that atheists and agnostics do not behave less morally than religious believers even if their virtuous acts are motivated by different principles.  I believe that there is a third view that recognizes our built in moral views but leaves room for growth and intelligent direction.

In the United States, where the conservative right holds that we should turn to religion for moral insights and inspiration, the gap between religion and government is rapidly diminishing, despite Glenn Beck's cries to the contrary.  Religion has once again made its way back into our public schools, seeking equal status alongside a scientific theory of human nature.  How ironic for a country that was founded by people seeking religious freedom.

We must recognize that our instincts and evolved intuitions, as well as our religious teachings, do not necessarily give us right or consistent answers to moral dilemmas.  What was good for our ancestors may not be good for human beings as a whole today, let alone our planet and all the other living beings that inhabit it. 

Insights into the changing moral landscape have not come from religion but from our growing knowledge of our world, from careful reflection on humanity and from what we consider to be a life well lived.  In the modern world, we must now consider factors such as animal rights, abortion, euthanasia, global warming and international aid when we form our moral views. 

In this respect, we must be aware of the universal set of moral intuition so that we may reflect on them and, if we choose, act contrary to them.  We can do this because it is our own nature, not God, which is the source of our morality. 

If you believe in God do you need him watching from the heavens in order for you to behave as you should?  Does this belief allow you to fully consider your moral choices before you make them or do you simply choose as you’ve been taught to choose, without regard to the insights humankind has gained over the centuries since the ancient religious texts were written and reinterpereted?   Do you require the promise of Heaven or the threat of Hell in order to make proper moral choices?

As for myself, I’ll choose thinking over obedience every time.  That’s a far cry from no goals, no morals, no direction, no consequences.  In fact, it’s quite the opposite, when you have to think through your choices rather than having them handed down.

Peace.  Out.