what is morality? for some people, it's something innate - something they feel. yet, that's probably an illusion. why do they feel that way?

my hypothesis is that people look to educational sources to try and understand morality - that it's entirely taught. those sources may be parents, teachers, philosophers. i've tended to prefer logicians, and have come out a secular humanist. for most people, though, the source is religion.

the ancient hebrew religion derived catastrophe as a result of turning away from god. byzantine religion assigned military defeat to impiety. modern calvinistic american religion argues that the poor are poor because it is their own fault - they are poor because god assigned them that way, like the untouchables in india. our collective lack of empathy stems from our collective concepts of morality. to change this, we need a religious revolution.

...preferably one to secular humanism....

http://truth-out.org/news/item/19780-are-heartless-people-simply-born-that-way
http://www.nyu.edu/gsas/dept/politics/faculty/mead/V53.0395/Kahl.pdf