(September 16, 2011 at 5:31 pm)StatCrux Wrote: The discussion is about finding a basis for moral concensus, the actions of atheists or people of faith have no relevance to the discussion. Many people have never questioned the basis of their moral beliefs, "it comes naturally" or "its just common sense" are commonly used terms by such people. It doesn't! humans can be brutal uncaring and ruthless with no moral conditioning.
(BTW, welcome to AF. I don't think we've exchanged words before.)
The most basic basis for moral consensus is that we are social animals, descended from and related to other social animals. Human social behavior pre-dates monotheism by a very, very long margin - and similar behavior (and morality) almost certainly existed in ancient pre-homo hominids.
It's simply in our individual and collective best interest to adopt certain moral behaviors (e.g. don't harm or others, or steal) so that individuals and society as a whole can be secured against the immoral (murder, assault, rape, theft, etc).
This sort of social behavior is not limited to humans, and certainly does not require a theistic basis. As is also seen in humans, the social cooperation that is seen in the animal kingdom often breaks down in inter-societal relationships. Additionally, individuals that threaten the social order are subject to sanctions by society even in the animal kingdom.
I posit that that theistic morality is derived from social morality, not the other way around.