OK, this is a little melodramatic and contrived, but it is a question I was asked at an interreligious lecture, and I believe that this question reveals a lot about one’s religious vision. So I would like to hear from our readers and from the other bloggers how you would answer this question:

You and a companion are lost in the Sahara desert after a car crash on a deserted road, and no one knows to come and look for you. After a day waiting and hoping someone would come, you and your companion decide to start walking with your last two canteens of water. Your companion drinks all of his water right away, you use your sparingly. Late in the day, he falls and breaks his leg. He is delirious from the trauma, cannot travel any more, and cannot even stand for you to carry him because of the pain.…

(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…