This Spring semester I have been taking a class dealing with ethics in the Criminal Justice system. It has made me wonder, what drives people, particularly those who do not believe in any superhuman agency or agencies, to follow a certain set of morals?

I want this to be an open discussion where questions can be asked and not just another thread for general answers because, quite frankly, everyone is too different in this. Because this deals with challenging the very foundations or what we all believe, I want to caution everyone before posting in here. I for one will be asking questions in this thread; as to how soon I may have them formed is anyone's guess.

Here is my input to get the ball rolling. Most of you know that I am a Christian, but I do no think I have ever really expressed what it is that drives me to follow God. Lately I have learned a few things that can start to put my understanding into words.

First off, I admit that I am a sinner. I believe I have inherited sin from Adam and Eve and am separated from God because of this. Also, the more I read the Bible the more I see the sin within me, both the original sin and sins I either knowingly commit or later come to know. This brings me in greater acknowledgement of how undeserving I am of forgiveness.

So what drives me to follow what I think is God's laws? First it comes from and ever-increasing knowledge of what the Bible says. I started a one-on-one Bible study with a close friend of mine back in January and we plan to gradually read through the entire Bible from cover to cover --so my beliefs are bound to change from time to time.

So what do I think about today's morals?

I believe the vast majority of people are following certain morals because they justify it from their own perspective, from what most people believe is right, refuse to believe God is real, and/or refuse to believe there can only be one set of morals (moral relativism).

"Morals" are so subjective, what one person considers to be "Moral" others may not. Truth is that Morals are something that are passed down from your family. You grow up a certain way and you either form your beliefs because of that situation, or in a lot of peoples case, Inspite of.

Being Catholic and expressing my opinion, to me today's morals changed drastically over years and less people (about 6% drop) are not really setting morals placed by god. Most people not believing God are usually kids (10-15) or adolescents through young adults (16-24).
Aura, most people have morals based on technology. The economy is growing and people tend to go to the internet rather to church (referring the 6% plus more). Another thing is hope he gives forgiveness to you. People sin all the time. Some sin worse but eventually they might get forgiveness.

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Jordanv78 : You have a point. Morals does come from family and traditions but usually there's that someone that always break traditions

I could take an entire page talking about morality but i think an example and an eplanation will suffice. I have einsteins dna. I create 2 clones. They are split up. One becomes a math teacher, one becomes a drug addict. The point there, is circumstance makes the man/ woman. They way your raised, the people you meet, the things you hear. Unlike most animals humans need to be taught everything, our brains are like a blank computer. We have next to no knowledge of survival, or how to act. Thhs is atributed as to why humans started to form settled communities, the young needed educated and protected. When you see babys playing with blocks, chewing things etc its like 2 lions play fighting, theyre actualy trying to learn about there environment and abilitys.
Kids mimick there elders, as such people get there morals by observing others.
The germans were willing to discard humane feelings because they were taught from a young age what to believe and how to act, its an open and shut case really.
becerra95 : i am confused as to how you link technology with morals.

Ahh... the topic of morality. It's actually a topic I can speak of all day. A person's morals IS based off of how they learn from others as well as their perspective of the world.

I honestly can't agree with today's society and it's influence on others today. And really the lessons all begin at home before one goes to school. Religion can have some basis on it, which can effect on how they act, but I think it's really starting with the parents of the person. The young instinctively listens to one that is older. There IS the case where the child breaks the cycle, but that can be ultimately by how that person is influenced outside the home.

Quite honestly, today's society can be so... self-absorbed that the young eventually learn that and... continues that cycle. I may actually add that today's youth aren't quite as they used to be. (I shouldn't be saying this at 18, it makes me feel so dang old... XD)

For instance, I was rather hungry and wanted to go to McDonald's. I decided to go inside rather than wait in the long line of people in the drive-through. Not knowing there'd be someone else to go in right after me, I only opened the door wide enough to let myself in when all of the sudden, a girl younger than me (not by much though, maybe a couple of years) just moved in front of me from out of nowhere with the most bland use of a "thank you" I've ever heard. If I knew she WAS behind me, I would have politely held the door open. However, just cutting in front of someone RIGHT as they were walking in is very rude. The "thank you" wasn't in the least genuine either, so that really made it a lot worse.

Normally, I wouldn't sweat the small stuff, but... I just find it rather disgusting. And all the times I've held the door open for someone, they made that genuine thank you. But... that's for people of my age group and older, from personal experience.

Gee.. um.... Well....
The way I see it, everyone has their own way of perceiving their morals. My way is something like this:
There's many different ways of expressing chrisitians. Take me for example. I'm a christian, but I don't do EVERYTHING god says in the bible to a tee. God has created / declared every1 as different for a reason. The whole point of the bible (in my opinion) is to use those things as guidelines that you should follow when you can. It's okay if you can't do it all the time; everyone makes their mistakes. It's just important to ask for God's forgiveness afterwards. However, to let these "Guidelines" rule and completely take over your life and how you run things is completely absurd in my opinion. To let them control you as an individual person completely goes against the whole Christianity thing

I don't mean for any of the statements in this post to be flaming/offensive, just speaking bluntly.

This is how I take it, you're of course right. Belief in a higher power tends to drive certain morals, which is truly why I believe religion was set up thousands of years ago. To control people. It was not all that bad though, because there was no other true way to make mankind do what was right and keep them all alive rather than tearing each other to pieces. Man can be a stupid creature when you look beyond the personal level. Mankind is not evolved enough to fully think about the collective while less on themselves personally. Belief in a higherpower thus keeps people motivated to do what is right through idea of punishment/ reward, just like how animals are taught. It's the only way to convince mankind to do what's best for everyone at the point in which it might hurt himself individually, like theives who rob out of necesity.

But what about the one's who don't believe in a higher power?

One buffer that I feel is present is what I term 'society normality'. What this is, is simply the doing of actions/ behaviors because it is societically acceptable. Not many people want to be the odd one out, so they will just conform. Because people will conform to the majority that is in fear/ seeking reward from of a higher power most non-believing people will still follow morals.

A second buffer is one's desire to do what is right. This can come about in two ways, through one's families and/or through one's own decisions. Family instills values that the bond of family love compells one to follow. This can last throughout one's lifetime. Own decisions are a lot weaker as there are dependant on what the person individually believes is the right thing, which may or may not be the same as following society normality. This may change throughout the course of one's life, so it is not set in stone and can work as an anti-buffer, therefore, to instill wrong moral values.

These are two buffers, but I believe that there is not much else. The two buffers are probably enough to keep humankind functioning properly, but in the end that's about it... two buffers. Therefore the ones who don't believe in a higher power are more likely to have subacceptable morals. This is one case in which the decline of religion may have serious consequences if not substituted with something of comparable capability or effect.