I'd like to hear from those who have never been to church/temple/synagogue etc or had any religious influences in their lives (i.e.: religious parents/grandparents, etc). Tell me how you learnt right from wrong and all the "moral behavioural characteristics" which make you a good person.
I was brought up as an atheist, in an atheist household. I didn't go to church, or Sunday school, I was excused from RE in school along with the 2 Jewish kids, 2 Catholic kids and 3 Hindu kids that went to the same Church of Ireland (Protestant) primary school.
That was til age 12, then I switched to a state school which, despite being non-denominational in name, was essentially Catholic. Again, I was excused from RE and did not attend any church. There were priests and nuns in the school but none of them taught me and I really never had very much to do with them as they weren't involved in the extra-curricular activities I attended either.
Of my three grandparents who survived past my infancy two were atheist, one was religious but lived in a different country and was very personal with her faith, never pushing it on anyone else and respecting our parents wishes that we be brought up without religion. The uncles and aunts I had regular contact with were atheist. My parents close friends when I was very young were a mixture of religions, none very devout - the same is true of the parents of my friends.
I would say I was brought up without a
religious moral framework.
Of course it is completely impossible to avoid ALL religious influence - we see on TV, in books, in adverts, films - but for me it was an abstract.
So how did I learn my moral framework? The same way nearly every other fucker here did, from my parents, from the authority figures in my life. My mother is one of the kindest, fairest and least judgmental people I know. She taught me, by example, how to respect the individual. She didn't ever tell that not doing so would get me punished, or that doing so would get me a reward. But she respected me as an individual, always listened and always gave me the benefit of the doubt, showed me what it felt like to be treated like that. And the benefit of the doubt is how she taught me trust, how to trust and how important it is to be trusted, and to be worthy of that trust. She also taught me, by example, how to lose gracefully.
My father taught me, again by example, the importance of being true to myself - he was often at odds with his surroundings, still is, but he never compromises himself. He doesn't fight his corner with the same grace and inclusiveness I see in my mother - but he fights it with passion, conviction and intellectual honesty.
Both of them taught me integrity, consistency, honesty and the important of fairness, of
practicing equality.
But why? Why would anyone need to act like that if there is no pay off for adhering nor punishment for straying? The answer is simple -
because that's how I want to be treated.