Morality, in essence, is respect for the dignity of our fellow humans and the other life forms that share this planet. It is this trait that endows our capacity for kindness, tolerance, fairness and empathy. Like any other human trait, its degree of expression varies among individuals and there are some who, inflicted with a personality disorder, have no moral compass.
While religious persons believe that morality stems from faith and are inclined to associate atheism with immorality, morality and religion have no direct relationship. In fact, though religious organizations engage in moral activities, their dogma often fosters divisiveness, intolerance, discrimination and self-righteousness. Morality, I believe, is imbedded in the genome of human beings; indeed, as social creatures, we would not have survived without it's influence. Religions, on the other hand, are products of human imagination, created to soothe our fear and pain.
Unlike religion, morality is not threatened by science and it governs our approach to scientific investigation and application. In turn, scientific knowledge facilitates the expression of our morality, clarifying the nature of human beings and our place in the Universe; the more we understand one another, the more likely we are to be kind, fair, tolerant and empathetic.
