It infuriates me when I hear Christians; and indeed religious people in general, suggest that morality is a result of religion or that religion is necessary to generate morality. To me this is ridiculous on two levels: 1.       Morality doesn’t need religion 2.       Religion is frequently immoral I recently read a book in which the […]

It infuriates me when I hear Christians; and indeed religious people in general, suggest that morality is a result of religion or that religion is necessary to generate morality. To me this is ridiculous on two levels: 1.       Morality doesn’t need religion 2.       Religion is frequently immoral I recently read a book in which the Dalai Lama suggested that the core of morality was “compassion”. He added to that, the importance of thinking things through and the motivation of any action we take. He suggested that if we act with compassion and think through our actions, we will in a majority of cases behave morally. Morality stems from compassion or a true desire never to do the wrong thing by people; and when faced with a dilemma, to ensure that the motivation is always to avoid doing the wrong thing by people. I agree 100%. Compassion is the basis for…