Then how can you be moral?

A common question posed to atheists, agnostics, humanists and others of a secular persuasion is that if you reject the supernatural, how can you be moral. A recent newsletter from the Brights group challenged readers to answer the question in two hundred words or less. Here is my response - anybody else want to have a go?

Morality for me is not a series of rules inscribed on tablets of stone. Rather it can be summarised by the golden rule of 'Do unto others as you would have them do unto you', a simple philosophy that predates all of the major world religions by thousands of years.

It is easy to see the evolutionary benefit of such a rule. Humans are social animals who thrive when living in families and tribes. It allows for babies with larger brains to be cared for when they are vulnerable, and skills and resources to be shared as required. Knowledge can be preserved and passed down through the generations. In such a group everyone will benefit from altruistic behaviour, and conversely everyone will suffer from such selfish actions as theft and murder.

I would argue that moral behaviour is therefore motivated by the common good, rather than the promise of heaven or fear of eternal punishment that is the basis of religious morality. Our human instinct, honed by evolution, is the lodestone for our moral compass. We have inbuilt reason to weigh our actions according to the golden rule and choose our behaviour accordingly.

That is how I can be moral.