Either morality comes from God, or it is a human construct.
If it is God-given, we have no authority to change it.
If it is human-given, it is subject to change without notice.
Ask Adolph Hitler, Mao Tse Tung, or Pol Pot.
If true, why don't we stone adulterers and disobedient children anymore? Why don't we condone or permit slavery anymore? Etc., etc.
Or--as my post #48 outlined--it could have evolved, just as life evolved, is indeed inherent in life.
If it [morality] is God-given, we have no authority to change it.
With respect, much of our human history is the history of wars about who possesses the authority of God. Or who has the 'correct' understanding of God's will. No matter what you believe, you are a heretic to someone else's religion. Every religious follower believes his God, his morality, is the right one--but they are mutually exclusive and incompatible, and that has given humanity no end of suffering
Don't forget, lenin, marx, clinton, carter, and Eisenhower.
Or morality is a product of an objective universe. It’s derived from observation and reason of our environment, guiding us as to how to best promote our lives according to our nature/abilities. We can’t successfully will morality to "change without notice" if the principles are incompatible with the world.
Like you say, just “Ask Adolph Hitler, Mao Tse Tung, or Pol Pot.” In general, they tried to impose moral systems that prohibited our freedom to pursue our rational self interest and succeed. That’s without precedent in nature, can’t work. So they failed.
In truth, morality is, at its basic, based upon the concept of enlightened self-interest -- balancing the desires of the individual and the necessities of the social group.
This premise is faulty and based on a false dilemma. The actions we label morals (the label is indeed a human construct) can also come from our genes, or from a combination of the three.
"If it is God-given, we have no authority to change it.
I don't believe there is a God, but I'll give you this one.
"If it is human-given, it is subject to change without notice.
Only if these morals are acceptable within a given society. Morals come from such things as kin selection, where we benefit from assuring the existence of our relatives, cultural development, where it benefits us to act within parameters set by living in large groups (we eventually set these conventions to law), and the structure of our brain which, through the multitude of potential synaptic connections, allows us to foresee the probable outcome of our actions and consciously determine the resulting benefit, including the ability to weigh equally likely outcomes.
"Ask Adolph Hitler, Mao Tse Tung, or Pol Pot.
How?