Do you have a personal ethical or moral code?

I’ve been prompted to think about this often lately, specifically after seeing some of the White House and POTUS social media posts.

I’m an atheist, but was raised catholic and went to 12 years of catholic school. The Catholic Church gets almost everything wrong, but one thing I always felt they got right, at least in comparison to other denominations, is the concept of charity. I was taught that it’s our duty to serve the most needy and that we should never qualify that service or require proof of need. I was taught the charitable act itself was the obligation, and that the spiritual or moral status of the recipient wasn’t of any concern. (This was a Franciscan parish.)

Now, as an adult, I’ve rejected most of the toxic “moral” teachings I received as a kid, but I’ve always held on to that concept of charity—and expanded it to be inclusive of any manner of interaction with people—not just need-based service. It just makes sense even outside of the confines of religious teaching as a way to keep society functioning for the good of all.

When I see things like the White House post on X tagging Chris VanHollen a couple of days ago (“I fixed it for you…”) it’s just so obvious that this administration and the people in it don’t operate with any moral or ethical code underpinning the way they see the world. They really are vapid, low-minded, base and mean.

But they seem to retain the support of people who believe they have the market cornered on morality.

There is this gulf between people like me (and I’m not unique at all), who have a clear standard of personal ethics that informs they way we act and view the world and those folks who adhere to a prescribed set of rules or “morals” and do so believing they have a special authority over what is defined as moral. That gulf can never be bridged because the “moral authority” side falls apart if it cedes that there are other ways to be moral.

It makes me think we’ve (society in general—particularly in the US) fallen for a terrible bait and switch, where we primarily built our personal morals on the rickety frame of religious dogma, and when it begins to crumble, there simply nothing underneath—leaving plenty of room for nasty, immoral behavior and institutions to grow with little objection.

There are a lot of reasons to resist the current administration—in particular for its degradation of women, LGBTQ existence, disabled or poor people. But I can’t stop thinking about how its very existence represents a decay and rot that is endemic.

I don’t know how you fight that except to encourage people to think about and develop their own personal system of ethics and morals—outside of religion—and hopefully eventually outnumber the religious dogma-trons.

So, do you have a non-religious moral or ethical code? How did you come to it? Do you do anything to share or promote it?