Does it matter where Ethics evolve from?

Ethics and morals can evolve and can be taught. This is how children learn what is right and wrong. But the basic principles for a person's conduct can be found in a variety of influences. Religous teachings can be extremely powerful but civic responsibility and fear can also be powerful. Some cultures bring deviant behavior back into line with social scorn or focusing on the importance of family honor. Civic responsibilty is also important to maintain order as people follow laws, mostly because they think society is better off for having them. This also explains why some cultures will tolerate behaviors from authority that they normally would not agree with, the shame of siding against the authority or the fear of the authority and the rationalization of the behavior.

Religious or personal evolvement is a more powerful ethic as the person feels that "God is watching" or judges an action based on personal beliefs. This governs actions even without the threat of discovery. Many adults know the best way to act but rationalize behavior based on the degree of an action, the "it's not that bad" mentality. Given that ethics are taught, the prevelance of this attitude has subtley changed our ethics to one of acceptance of "mild" lapses in judgement.

To truly understand our ethics and cement the principles in us and our children, we have to present it in a variety of ways. For example, we do not steal because A)religion forbids it(if this applies) B) it is against the law C) you are hurting the person your stealing from d) you did not earn the item e) society will look unfavorably on you. For everyone, not all of these will apply and the order is up to you, but showing how this action violates many different principles seems to a have a deeper effect on people.