Moral awareness has evolved with us according to our needs as highly complex social beings. But down through history our shared values have sometimes been hijacked by charismatic individuals to form religions with ideas that reflect their personal likes and dislikes.

Often these (usually) men claimed to have been commanded by voices – a phenomenon also experienced by schizophrenic Peter Sutcliffe the ‘Yorkshire Ripper’. However, when considering issues of morality Humanists prefer to rely on reason, empathy and experience.

ETCHED IN STONE

Religion can of course provide good moral guidelines but codes of behaviour can vary considerably according to different faiths. We are reminded too that sacred directives are immune to changing times, or at least slow to change. Yet while the pace of  social change is accelerating we are still expected to follow commandments set in stone thousands of years ago.

For example should we still be banning stem cell research and blood transfusions? Or discriminating against women, gay people and birth control? Indeed, doctors and health activists say that Pope John Paul II’s absolute opposition to the use of condoms to prevent the spread of HIV and AIDS led to millions of deaths and children being orphaned across Africa and Latin America.

Furthermore, religious scholars vary in their interpretation of these sacred directives, which can lead to social division and worse. We have seen this down the centuries where there is conflict between branches of Christianity – or those of Islam across the Middle East, leading millions to flee. Yet it is not necessarily to countries that share similar language, culture and religion that these refugees head but to the West, to societies that respect human rights and the rule of law – and which are largely secular.

LIVING PROOF

For living proof that moral societies do exist independently of a belief in God, or in fact any religion, we need look no further than Scandinavia. As the writer Kai Nielsen points out in ‘Ethics without God’, the secular Scandinavian countries, where religion is steadily losing its grip, are among the freest, most egalitarian and least sexist countries in the world.

They have a reputation for compassion, honesty and respect for individual rights and are considered the least corrupt countries with which to do business. In terms of moral integrity they can all be contrasted favourably with many societies in which religion plays a significant, even dominant, role. And in terms of the happiness of their people, they are also consistently among the top ten countries worldwide!