(Disclaimer: I caught one of the nasty colds going around, so if this is less than coherent, apologies.)

In the comments to my first post on Religious Humanism, the question came up, Where do morals and ethical values come from?

Most of us have had our moral ideals shaped in part by our religious communities, but in perhaps a less straightforward way than we think. I’ve read that most people don’t actually know the moral principles of their own religions—they can’t name more than half the Ten Commandments, for example, and I’d bet that most members of the Ethical Society couldn’t tell you our 8 Commitments of Ethical Culture off the top of their head, nor do most humanists know the details of the latest Humanist Manifesto.

Yet it’s been my experience that most people, whatever their religion or life philosophy, share basic moral instincts, such as not to harm or use others, and to help relieve suffering and increase happiness. Granted, there is a lot of unethical behavior in the world, but the ideals are universal—such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which was signed by hundreds of countries with different religions, traditions, and cultures.

So where do our moral values come from? There has been a lot of recent study of ethics that shines light on this question. Some I’ve read and can recommend include The Ethical Brain by Michael Gazzaniga; Nonzero by Robert Wright, which uses game theory to explain how altruism is evolutionarily advantageous; recent work by psychologist Stephen Pinker, such as his recent NY Times article; and studies of our primate cousins, as in this article on the evolution of empathy from Greater Good magazine.

I take great comfort knowing that my ethical values are not just manifestations of hopefulness but built into the fabric of humans, into our genes and brains. We may have very different metaphysical ideas about reality, we may have different stories and texts that inspire us, but underneath, our basic values rest on the common ground of our humanity.