MORALS AND VALUES

Dictionary definitions
(From my Webster's dictionary) Note that none of these have anything to do with sex, or even with the Bible or with religion.
Moral: concerned with the principles of right and wrong; ethical
Morality: conformity, or degree of conformity, to conventional rules, without or apart form inspiration and guidance by religion and other spiritual influences.
Broader Definitions
This includes my own definition of some related terms.
Morals: when you care about others and not just yourself
Integrity: when you do what you say and you say what you do. Integrity means being able to do business on a handshake.
Character: when you act upon your convictions, and don't cave in under pressure
Decency: when you don't tolerate degrading situations (e.g. poverty, exploitation, violence, hypocrisy)
Prostitution: (Strict) offering sex for money. (Broad) when you sacrifice your values for financial or political gain.
Practical Morals
Morals are actually easy to understand: if your actions are guided by trying to do good to others, you are moral. If you are pursuing your goals only, you are selfish. If you pursue your selfish goals at the expense of others, you are immoral. If your goals also make others happy, you live a balanced life. Dead simple!
Morals should always originate from some practical considerations. Good morals promote a better society, and happier people overall. "Intuitive" morals are the best. Don't kill, don't hurt, don't be selfish, help the less fortunate.
Here are my morals. Help your neighbor. Be a fine human being. be tolerant. Enjoy life. be happy, because happiness is contageous.
Government Control?
Just like Adam Smith predicted that an "invisible hand" would control the economy when left alone, it could be argued that the same invisible hand could control morals. The reason is that people want to be happy, and will eventually do what works best. And in human terms, the way to real happiness, has to imply making others happy.
There is Nothing Inherently Immoral About Sex
There is a lot of talk about moral decay nowadays. Maybe there is moral decay. After all, people are becoming increasingly greedy and selfish, increasingly incapable of taking on personal responsibility, and increasingly dependent upon the government to tell them what to do and what not to do.
What I also call moral decay, are parents who are too busy to care for their kids, credit card bills, government deficits, expensive new cars bought on credit, complaining, the inability to live without air-conditioning, and the total ignorance of suburbanites of anything to do with nature.
However, having sex before marriage, or watching an adult movie, has nothing to do with moral decay.
Here is what the confusion is all about: in the US, when people talk about morals, they usually mean sex.
But sex is not inherently immoral. It can be immoral, if personal pleasure is pursued at the expense of others. Or if there is coercion, or if emotional pain is knowingly inflicted. Or if intentions are misrepresented. Otherwise, there is no problem with sex. Even the Bible does not talk a whole lot about sex.
Sex outside of marriage is not inherently immoral. It is just the lying that is immoral (either Hugh Hefner or Bob Guccione once came up with that, in an interview).
Besides that, there are issues of pregnancy and STD's. That has to do with health and safety. Not with morals.
"Traditional" Values
Why traditional values? We don't live in a traditional society. Actually, we quit living in a traditional society at the time of the Industrial Revolution, when agriculture got mechanized. You can cry about it (personally, I also wish I could ride to work in a horse-drawn carriage). But the fact is: there is no going back.
There is no rational reason why "traditional" values are better. On the contrary, they almost have to be worse by definition, since the world changes and the values do not.
People confuse family values with plain old-fashioned intolerance.
Being socially liberal does not mean being anti-family!