Democratic societies are founded on principles that value individual freedom and liberty. In fact, this entails that people are free to think as they choose, including on moral issues. While laws and customs will dictate what moral values are enforced, each person remains entitled to believe according to their own individual perspective.

However, there are a variety of foundations for morality, and any individual may have moral viewpoints based on one or multiple of such foundations. For instance, a common foundation for morality is religious belief, and depending on the faith and individual in question, this morality may stem directly from God or merely be enforced by him. For instance, some people believe God can’t make murdering children ethical - it’s simply immoral because that’s how the world is. Or perhaps God could but would never do that. There are so many complex views on the matter that it’s difficult to explain them all, perhaps impossible. Others believe God can make anything moral, and being moral is following his will.

Of course, many people accumulate their moral beliefs from the society they live within. This means that culture, government, family, friends, teachers, and others will influence a person’s development in most situations. Some people end up forsaking most of the values they were raised with, but people tend to accept at least a significant portion of the beliefs they learned from childhood. For instance, people will tend to dislike unnecessary violence even if they change their religious or political values throughout their lifetime.

In addition to cultural influences, some people believe genetic or evolutionary explanations are available with respect to moral issues. Some evidence suggests that across multiple cultures, certain beliefs and values are consistent. Of course, there are other explanations that might account for this. Given that society has became largely a global community through technology and trade, it’s uncommon for people not share certain common beliefs. In addition, some moral values may be adopted not out of a respect for morality, but they may be adopted merely out of self-interest. People agree not to steal from one another, for instance, because it’s easier than waging war and defending themselves. This is the view of philosopher Thomas Hobbes and others, but objections do exist. Morality is something that it’s difficult to establish agreement amongst two people on all issues.

Lastly, people appear to utilize reason to acquire their moral values. Some people believe morality is entirely accessible through reason, and the decision to extend rights to women and minorities may make a case for that view. It was arguably not necessary for society to make the consessions it has throughout history, and disenfranchized groups could exist in far worse conditions than they do in democratic societies today. There are things to change, still, but things have progressed because people have been shown that there is no logical reason to discriminate against living, feeling human beings. Human beings that are indestiguishable from the majority when it comes to qualities that warrant moral consideration. Being a human being gives people some moral consideration, for instance, but there is no reason to take skin color into account when weighing the value of an individually.

Regardless of what foundation someone has for their morality, many of them seem to coincide with one another. Furthermore, the democratic values of America and other countries have tried to create societies where people respectfully disagree. Perhaps now more than ever, we are seeing people test the ability of democracy and multiculturalism. Nonetheless, morals continue to be something people are able to discuss in a civilized manner if they choose to do so.