In Religion Without God, Ray Billington argues for the destruction of “the vestiges of superstitious views of morality”. We are, thus, left with a problem: if there is no God, then what are the foundations of morality?
I shall attempt to answer the question by examining current and historic ‘moral’ behaviours. I shall offer no definition or analysis of right, wrong, good, bad, virtuosity or fairness. Rather I shall analyse how and why we have the morals that we do (geographically, culturally, and historically). I shall show that four moral edicts (not killing, not stealing, not lying and not breaking promises) are sufficient and necessary for a complete moral system.
If I can explain within one hypothesis why our moral values change over time, cultures, and geography, then perhaps that will inform the meta-ethical debate.