This finding has now been confirmed in numerous laboratory and field studies. Overall, the results are clear: No matter how we define morality, religious people do not behave more morally than atheists, although they often say (and likely believe) that they do.

Secular humanism focuses on the way human beings can lead happy and functional lives. It posits that human beings are capable of being ethical and moral without religion or God, it neither assumes humans to be inherently evil or innately good, nor presents humans as “above nature” or superior to it.

It is simply impossible for people to be moral without religion or God. Faith can be very very dangerous, and deliberately to implant it into the vulnerable mind of an innocent child is a grievous wrong. The question of whether or not morality requires religion is both topical and ancient.

Morals refer to beliefs, principles, and values about what is right and what is wrong, which are personal to each and every individual. A person’s moral beliefs are often—but not always—grounded in religion. Morals may also be grounded in secular philosophical theories about right and wrong.

Freeing humanity from the original sin, empowering human beings, and giving them full responsibility of their actions is the message of the Qur’an: “Every soul will be held responsible for what it had done” (Q. 74:38)—is the essence of morality and ethics in Islam.

Being Your Best Self, Part 4: Moral Action. Moral action involves taking the necessary steps to transform the intent to do the right thing into reality. This includes moral ownership, moral efficacy, and moral courage.

…that holds that the moral rightness or wrongness of an action should be ascertained in terms of the action’s consequences. According to one common formulation, an action is right if it would promote a greater amount of happiness for a greater number of people than would any other action performable…

Ethics are the standard of what is right and wrong, and they are based on our values. Being ethical requires making a moral judgment, and that’s not always easy. Ethical behavior takes courage and has to be practiced. If instincts tell you it’s a clear choice between right and wrong, follow your instincts.

According to this understanding, “ethics” leans towards decisions based upon individual character, and the more subjective understanding of right and wrong by individuals – whereas “morals” emphasises the widely-shared communal or societal norms about right and wrong.

Yes, things aren’t always clear-cut—but calling out the injustices in our world, and defining them as such, can help us change it. One of the things you learn early on in life is the difference between right and wrong. Bullying is wrong. Being kind to others is right.

Morality is not just something that people learn, argues Yale psychologist Paul Bloom: It is something we are all born with. At birth, babies are endowed with compassion, with empathy, with the beginnings of a sense of fairness.

Situation ethics (contextualism) In situation ethics, right and wrong depend upon the situation. It teaches that ethical decisions should follow flexible guidelines rather than absolute rules, and be taken on a case by case basis.

The same action may be morally right in one society but be morally wrong in another. For the ethical relativist, there are no universal moral standards — standards that can be universally applied to all peoples at all times. The only moral standards against which a society’s practices can be judged are its own.