Christians say that their morality comes from God, but there are some problems with that. Is something good because God commands it, or does God command what is good? The typical Christian response is that goodness is in God’s nature. However, since God is eternal his nature is also eternal and he would have no control over it. Therefore, his nature would be arbitrary. So, we must have things which are good in and of themselves and not solely because God commands them.

I prefer morality that is of natural origin rather than supernatural. Since, humans are products of evolution it is not hard to understand that morality is also partially a product of evolution. When humans lived in small groups which were more or less composed of their own kin it was beneficial to be good to each other in evolutionary terms. This type of biological morality has survived and is the basis for our morality today.

But, our brains have evolved and we can rationally understand why some things are moral and other things are not. For example, the Golden Rule, do not do to others which you would not like done to yourself, is not hard to come by rationally. Many cultures around the globe have developed this ethic of reciprocity independently, much earlier than Christianity claimed to have first introduced it.

Furthermore, Kant tells us that we should never treat people only as a means but always as ends. He also said that we should imagine a world in which everybody did something and if it would be a world we like to live in. For example, if we lived in a world where everybody lied, then promises and contracts would be meaningless.

Morality above all else is inside us and not imposed from above by authority. If God is the only thing stopping you from theft, murder and rape are you really a moral person? You are just following the commands of an authority figure to escape punishment. There is no morality in that at all.

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