Where do we get our morals from?

I will get to that soon. But this first.

It is a true joy to know that as a father I will be able to ensure my child can grow up unencumbered by dogma. I didn't find religion until my early teens so I went through those precious early years minus the brainwashing. Perhaps this is the reason I was prepared to question what I was being told, particularly at the Christian camp I attended twice a year. Mill Valley Ranch (which still runs today) was devastatingly successful at turning heathens into good Christian soldiers. It was very appealing to an impressionable and confused kid with divorced parents and steps entering the scene. And while the experience was only positive for me at the time it never quite satisfied me. I have always been inquisitive (a trait that so many secularists seem to share) and would ask myself and others a lot of questions that rarely got answered. And even from a young age I could tell when an answer was well rehearsed. 

And so I moved on to other areas of spirituality. But that's for another day.

Instead I will close this anti-sermon with a counter punch. Traditions such as family time, community celebrations and games, breaking bread, joining together to help someone less fortunate, working together towards a common goal. All these wonderful facets to humanity were here long before religion and will be with us as long as we survive as a species. They are inherent traits built in us all. They do not have to be nurtured each generation because they are already written into the true book of life, our DNA. So the next time someone asks you where do you get your morals from, tell them the answer is within. Wink wink.