Religion & Ethics: Content from Across the ABC




Date/Time 21 Jan 2017 2:05:54am
"What logical basis can exist for non-religious morality was the entirety of my inquiry so, far from being a red herring, it was the whole point"
The logical basis is that I, as a human being that feels empathy, prefers peaceful co-existence to violence, both for the sake of myself and others. It is therefore logical to search for an ethical system that tries to maximise happiness and minimises pain.
You may call that 'subjective' if you wish. Without a genuine cheatsheet from a deity, it's as close to objective as we're going to get.

"morality simply can't exist as anything other than extended self interest"
I'm not convinced empathy can be classified as 'self-interest', even if you feel bad when you deny your instinct to help others.

"Why would the same standard not apply to the moral beliefs of atheists?"
It does, but not in the context of trying to work out whether a god exists or not. The argument 'if there's no god, where does morality come from' doesn't work for obvious reasons.
In theism, god is morality. In atheism, there are no moral tenets, so the question of morality is answered by the study of moral philosophy - not theology. There is also a difference between how you and I perceive morality. You want to make god happy primarily, I want to make humanity (and other animals too to some extent, but that's another issue) happy for the term of our natural lives.