The 'source of morality' thread..

[onager]

4. Our furrier cousins also have morals

Interesting piece published 6 days ago on ABC News. Obviously unreliable, since the scientist is an atheist:

Do We Need God to be Moral?

COLUMN By LEE DYE - April 7, 2013

One of the world's leading primatologists believes his decades of research with apes answers a question that has plagued humans since the beginning of time.

Are we moral because we believe in God, or do we believe in God because we are moral?

Frans de Waal argues in his latest book that the answer is clearly the latter. The seeds for moral behavior preceded the emergence of our species by millions of years, and the need to codify that behavior so that all would have a clear blueprint for morality led to the creation of religion, he argues...

Through years of research all over the world, de Waal has reached these basic conclusions: Chimps and bonobos and other primates clearly show empathy with others who are suffering. They have a sense of fairness, they take care of those in need, and they will share what they have with others who are less fortunate.

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/god-moral/story?id=18898993

"Sense of fairness, share what they have?" Obviously no evolutionary link between chimps and Congressional Republicans, then...