We should take the Moral Highground

[Neo-Scholastic]

A couple of points: First I would seperate the idea of "ethics" from the idea of individual "ethics" in practice.

Intresting that you say that, because I think the same way. For me transcendent values serve more as a philisophical background. It is one thing to believe in an ultimate good and quite another figuring out what it is.

Human nature and rationality can provide us with a basis for ethics external to individual wrong beliefs.

In principle I agree with you. The only difference is this. I believe that aligning our selves more closely with our humanity and our rationality more completely reflects divine aspects. Genkaus and I are having a long and involved conversation about this and he's helping me to use my words more precisely. So my idea is a work in progress and not something I am yet prepared to defend in a coherent way.

Ethics based upon sentience (a being's ability to suffer) provides a standard for human conduct. Suffering is self-defined as a state that human beings seek to avoid and conversely happiness is a state that humans seek and value. Individual conceptions of happiness and suffering exist and a person is free to pursue then insofar as they do not treat another person as a means to their end (happiness), cause unwarranted suffering, or impinge upon another person's reasonable pursuit of happiness.

I do believe you are on to something. It needs to be fleshed out a bit more, but overall it's a good approach. It's the last part (about not impinging on others) that I find a bit shakey.