I know that you're not very religious Jay, so it surprises me that you're describing morality in religious terms. Morality exists in any social setting including the secular, liberal, democratic society that everybody in our country identify with either as a residence or a citizen. There are morals that are moral not for a Canadian citizen (and by extension Western civilization, and in turn humanity in all) as well as all religious stripes such as Abrahamics, Hindus, Confucians, so on. I don't think it's particularly useful to segregate morality - the sense of good and evil - to religion by itself, as you and I both have morals that - although they may not be codified as in religion - are nonetheless powerful. The American constitution is short and sweet. The constitution of the People's Republic of China is long and rambling and so much more specific - yet the American one is clearly more influencial. Because morality guides behaviour, I would place the value of a particular morality on how much it guides behaviour, not how well-written it is.
If people want to learn Christian, Jewish, or Muslim morals, they should go to a school that teaches them so. But we will impose morality on all of our children - the Golden rule, honesty, respect, dignity - and so on because children cannot consent to it anyways. Schools have potential (and I'm only saying this because some kids don't "fit" into the school system and become outcasts) to influence behaviour according to "rules" that although aren't codified can be observed empirically - and influencing behaviour according to rules is morality enough for me.
If people want to learn Christian, Jewish, or Muslim morals, they should go to a school that teaches them so. But we will impose morality on all of our children - the Golden rule, honesty, respect, dignity - and so on because children cannot consent to it anyways. Schools have potential (and I'm only saying this because some kids don't "fit" into the school system and become outcasts) to influence behaviour according to "rules" that although aren't codified can be observed empirically - and influencing behaviour according to rules is morality enough for me.
