Hain

I do not think that one must have a religion to create morality. Philosophers and thinkers like Immanuel Kant and John Rawls logically deduced how one can logically develop a moral system. Kant's categorical imperative and universalization of maxims leads one to find the same morals we value. Universalization is roughly: If two people are A and B, it must be possible that both A and B are allowed to do the same things, regardless of who or what A and B are to be a universal maxim.

This is like Rawls' "Veil of Ignorance" where the only way to create a just society is to let everyone be selfish, so long as they are incapable of distinguishing who they are. Simplified idea of this: you are to slice up a cake without knowing when you are to get your piece. If you make a larger slice for yourself there is every possible chance that someone else can take it before you. Therefore, you must not make the pieces uneven but make each piece the same size in order for you to get the biggest piece possible.

My personal ideal: one's will ought not interfere with another person's will, this is a positive (good) will. This is terribly simplistic and I can poke holes at it all ready but that is the basic way to say it. It is based on the idea of positive and negative connections one can make with people and things. Positive connections need not be good things, and negative connections need not be bad things. The goal is to make positive connections as one is enriched by the positive connections in one's life, to my understanding. Even bad things suffered can in a way be positive for one if one learns from it or takes the right messages.

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