“Morality” is a word that is thrown around quite a bit. Although usually attributed to religion, it is defined as “a system of principles concerning the distinction between right and wrong or good and bad behavior.” Clearly, morality is not invariably connected to religion.

First, I must address the ambiguity of the question; concerning our own personal judgment between what is “right” and what is “wrong,” to whom – or what - are we obligated? Society? God? Ourselves?

One can make the argument that we are obligated to be moral for the good of our society as a whole; one can argue that we are obligated to be moral for ourselves, to have some sort of positive guidance in our actions; and the religious, of course, argue that we are obligated to God.

But, based on the assumption that no religion is true, the truth is that we aren’t obligated to anyone, or anything, to have any sort of moral basis.

That is not to say that we have no reason to be moral. Generally speaking, even the vaguest concept of morality can have its benefits. I argue that the greatest contributors to what we call our “morals” are our parents; they raise us from birth, and they are the people who teach us right from wrong, and what is good and bad behavior, as we grow up. Throughout our lives, what we have learned from our parents gradually combines with what we have learned ourselves, and this provides a person’s moral basis; which, also, is to eventually be passed on to the next generation.

While we may feel obligated to be moral for the good of our society, there are simply far too many different concepts of morality to sufficiently reconcile each one with all the others in the world today. Nonreligious concepts, such as ethical relativism and utilitarianism, differ with each other as much as concepts set down by world religions. Many have different views on the good of the individual or group as opposed to the good of the public or society.

However, we can see that some ideas are nearly universal throughout all types of morality; as a species, we generally accept that killing is wrong; that lying is wrong; we should love our neighbor and respect our women; we should avoid selfishness and help others. Ambiguous ideas such as these provide a common basis for morality in all its forms, whether religious, nonreligious, or philosophical, and that is because they have biological origins. Although, at the very least, we may feel obligated to lead honest lives without actions like murder or theft, we are not obligated to identify with any common moral basis just to convince others, or a god, that we are good people. After all, there is no one to judge us but ourselves.