Morals without God?
Thus, indoctrination and introspection reveal nothing about the true cause of instinctive
behaviour – only science can achieve that.
What sense are we to make of the confusing plethora of
moral rules and explanations? Fortunately, evidence from history and from science has told us much about the origin of the earth and
of life.
Firstly I will summarize what science has revealed about the origins of things in our universe. Astronomy (ref 1) has
revealed a wondrous chain of events – the universe began in a big bang 13 billion years ago, and organized into clusters, galaxies
and the first stars. These quickly burnt out, exploding as supernovas, blowing clouds of gas into space. Our solar system (firstly
the sun, then the earth) condensed out of such a gas cloud at about 4.6 BP (before present).
Paleontology and geology and show
that life was present by 3.7BP – almost as soon as the meteor bombardment eased. This life then evolved into multicelled organisms,
plants and animals.
Geneticists have revealed the thread of life - how DNA and genes work – the parents’ genes combine in the
egg, determining physical and behavioral characteristics in the offspring. Small natural variations in genes make each offspring a
little different. Changes in environment favor some themes (which thus reproduce more successfully) while others are not favored (2).
(We are seeing evolution in action with the spread of the cane toad – those with longer legs reached Kakadu first and founded colonies
– hardly surprising!)
Animals also developed brains, whose wiring is shaped by genes and by experience. Those living in groups
also passed on elements of social behavior (instincts) through their genes. The evidence is around us - we can see the transmission
and effects of altruistic and selfish genes (3), in nature, and in animal experiments. The theory is complete – all animals and humans
who interact would benefit from rules of behaviour to others, hence such characteristics would be selected for.
One branch on
the tree of life became mammals, then a smaller branch became ape-like creatures. From these, individual “twigs” became gorillas,
chimpanzees, and hominid. Many species of hominid developed in Africa, with several waves subsequently spreading to Europe, Asia,
Australia and the Americas. Only one species survives today – homo sapiens. (How different our world view would be if Neanderthal
and Homo Florensis survived a bit longer, and lived next to us!)
Thus, evolution gives the message that we are all natural products
of the universe, and all life on earth shares DNA. Humans are now all the one species, among 30 million on this planet alone. We can
celebrate and enjoy the diversity of cultures. Compare this with the message from many religions – ours is the only race chosen to
go to heaven, and to meet our one true god. We should slay heretics who question our faith, and try to convert nonbelievers, and if
that doesn’t work, wipe them out.
About 100,000 – 10,000 years ago, large groups of homo sapiens gathered together (4), and developed
language, agriculture, technology etc. This enabled them to develop, pass on and eventually record ideas (what are now called memes).
Memes (ideas passed down through language) with survival value would clearly spread wider.
We know all this because libraries
and university research departments are chock full of the evidence. The score is evolution 100, special creation 0.
Storytelling, music, dress, costumes and dance etc would over millennia become ritualized. We see this in animals – for example:
in the dance of the riflebird or the song of the bird of paradise, the most extreme behaviors are favored by mates, and so get passed
down. This explains the rich cultural diversity we see today in humans and other animals.
Those individuals and groups in power
would surely try to reinforce their positions with rules of behavior and codes of conduct. Combined with co-operative genes, these
would be powerful forces for survival of a pack or tribe, and would thus spread.
Thus it is not surprising that the Golden Rule
recurs throughout history, culture and religion.
The Christian bible says “do unto others what you would have them do unto you”, while
Confucious said “Never impose on others what you would not choose for yourself.” Hindus speak of karma and the need to avoid harming
other beings, while Mohammad said "None of you [truly] believes until he wishes for his brother what he wishes for himself."
But
some individuals are dominated by selfish genes instead of altruistic ones. That is why we need prisons as well as medals. If they
became leaders, what sort of rules would they impose? We would see “You shall give a tenth of your income to me”, “You will worship
and obey only me”, “You will stone anyone breaking my rules”, “You must not question my rules”, and so on. Individual freedoms would
be oppressed.
Minorities represent a threat to a tyrannical regime, so they would be oppressed. Women are less likely to support
such a dictatorship, so they would be disempowered through reduction of contact and decision-making, concealing dress, arranged marriages
etc. We see remnants of all these things in cultures today.
Thus a system of decrees (good
and bad) by tribal chiefs and other leaders chiefs would develop. But how to prevent someone stabbing you in the night? The chief
would benefit by invoking new weapons, such as witchdoctors, potions, spells, curses and other superstitions.