what he said

 We are all born with an innate sense of morality. It isn't anything we have to be taught. It is a part of our makeup, it's in the DNA. Whatever that grey matter is we call the brain contains that, it is there at birth. It is what makes humans, human. Animals will react to their environment. There instinct is based only on survival. Do animals have any sense of right and wrong? No, they are born without that, it is learned. Animals can be trained to react in such a way. There are many examples of animals acting heroically, protecting the lives of humans. It was a learned behavior.   

 But with man it is different. We have to be taught to ignore our morality, our sense of right and wrong. We call that receiving an education, or simply growing up. Learned behaviors. Take something as basic as our toys. When we are very small children we get upset when someone else takes what it ours. It is instinct. It is ours and you have no right to take that. But we are taught to share. We are told it is wrong to keep those things solely for yourself, even when they are solely yours. The lessons begin. To get along in society, in a group you must share with that group. It is what the group wants that's important here. Give the group the toy! That is what is right. The group decided that, and you should comply. That continues our entire life. We aren't learning right from wrong, we already know that, we are learning what is expected, demanded and enforced. And that is the sole purpose of government in all its' forms. To delineate what is expected, demand compliance with those demands and punish those that fail to do so. Government is the morality of the people. 

 That was known and understand by those composing the constitution. It is the very reason religion was excluded from that document. religion doesn't teach us morals, what is right or wrong, religion exists to validate our beliefs. That is what all religions do. It makes little difference who or what you pray to, the comfort derives from the prayer. Pray is an instinctual thing. That is a part of our DNA as well. Do animals pray? I highly doubt that. We aren't taught to pray; we may be taught what to say, however. Yes, there is a big difference between the two. A religious doctrine is written instructions on what is right and wrong. Well, except it is a little more than that, it is the government of faith. That's why we say the faithful, like being a good citizen. We are in compliance. We are told what is expected, compliance is demanded, and punishment follows non-compliance. 

 I try to write these thoughts down and share them with whoever is willing to read or listen. I often feel inadequate to the task. I have said it in the past and believe it to be true, there really is little that can be said that hasn't been said before. I see the evidence of that all the time. There are times I write what I feel is a "new" thought only to discover it is only new to me. Perhaps I had heard or read that somewhere before and just now remembered. What I have written this morning is an example of that. Thomas Jefferson had similar thoughts and expressed them in a letter to a friend. That was 236 years ago. What follows is what he said.

  "He who made us would have been a pitiful bungler, if he had made the rules of our moral conduct a matter of science. For one man of science, there are thousands who are not. What would have become of them? Man was destined for society. His morality, therefore, was to be formed to this object. He was endowed with a sense of right and wrong merely relative to this. This sense is as much a part of his nature, as the sense of hearing, seeing, feeling; it is the true foundation of morality... The moral sense, or conscience, is as much a part of man as his leg or arm. It is given to all human beings in a stronger or weaker degree, as force of members is given them in a greater or less degree. It may be strengthened by exercise, as may any particular limb of the body. This sense is submitted indeed in some degree to the guidance of reason; but it is a small stock which is required for this: even a less one than what we call Common sense. State a moral case to a ploughman and a professor. The former will decide it as well, and often better than the latter, because he has not been led astray by artificial rules." --Thomas Jefferson to Peter Carr, 1787. ME 6:257, Papers 12:15