Rape in the Bible

[FatAndFaithless]

I believe in situational ethics. In any situation or moral question, there is a course of action (or multiple courses of action) that are objectively better than others if human wellbeing is the foundation of one's morality.

And as already noted, general human well-being does not need to be the basis of one's morality. One can go broader and consider the well-being of all life or even the inanimate, or one could go narrower and consider the well-being of one's own nation, tribe, nuclear family, or just the self. Or you could dispense with systems altogether and just go with your conscience at the moment.

Yes. Yes you can. You can base your morality on the omens of randomly found rock formations or on the writings of 2000 year old goat herders (the two aren't so far apart). I'm not saying there is some sort of binding property of reality that obligates humans to behave that way. It's a system that emerges from recognizing that we all share the same space, and in order to construct a society that is stable and effective, human wellbeing is a damn good principle to put as the foundation of a moral code.

Are there better foundational principles for a moral system? Could be. However, there are certain principles that have demonstrated throughout history that they do not work (such as adherence to an arbitrary and unassailable set of bald pronouncements in stone), and "human wellbeing" as a structural starting point is doing pretty damn well comparatively.