The Real Basis of a Moral World • Richard Carrier

…Thus, before we invented better ways of doing things, when we acted simply as we evolved to be, as savages and ignorant primitives, we invented a Biblical God to tell us all sorts of things were right and good, like slavery, that we later realized were not. Since then we have empirically discovered we are not happy endorsing or allowing slavery, or women's inequality, that we need democracy and human rights to reduce our personal risk of conflict and misery, that things go better for everyone when we cultivate respect for personal autonomy and individualism, and pursue the minimization of harm, all to generating good will, and contented neighbors. That's all an empirical fact. And remains a fact whether gods exist or not…
https://www.richardcarrier.info/archives/14879