ABSTRACT
Mankind in general, once it has emerged from slavery to custom, believes that morality is a code of behaviour imposed by a god or gods, a code which men would not have evolved for themselves, and to which they are by nature refractory. Believers were assisted not only by man’s infinite capacity for unreason, but by the fact that in most communities the moral code was far more sensible and enlightened than the gods. This chapter deals with some of the more important consequences that follow from founding one’s moral ideas upon a revealed moral code. The growth of the science of medicine and the spread of ideas about hygiene have forced the Christian churches to abandon, or to modify that hatred and contempt for the human body which used to form part of the essence of Christian doctrine. Unless morality is firmly based upon the word of God men will not feel themselves under any obligation to act rightly.
