how do they learn them?

is is based on society that has norms in place b/c of religion?

or is there something i am missing?

It's called "using your brain"

Honestly: basically you just have to follow the "golden rule"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethic_of_reciprocity

What do you think religious values come from? From god?

yes in fact all of my morals and beliefes come from my faith...

and using your brain does not work b/c it humane mnature to look out for ones self first and foremost, look at children they are perfect examples of how humans would be if we just “used our brains”  they have the me mentality that we are born with and only thru educating our children do they come to understand that way of thought will not work

only in animals in nature and only certain ones (apes, elephants, dolphins) can you see any type of selfless behavior but not humans

and was always under the impression that the golden rule came from religion and its teachings

The golden rule is so easy to understand even a 10 year old child would get it without ever having heard of God.

And humans are in fact selfless. Children towards their parents (and even people they don't know), parents towards their children. You towards your friends. It's called social interaction and if you deny that I won't bother arguing anymore.

So where did Japanese people take their values from then? Or Bush-men? Surely not from the christian god, right?

Religion is used to tell people why they should believe in those values. It's not the reason for them.

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The golden rule is so easy to understand even a 10 year old child would get it without ever having heard of God.

That is not true, with out an out side force acting upon that child they tend to be very selfish and not share anything unless they can get a gain from it or they are done with it, but often you will see children get cored with a toy and discard it only to want it back the moment someone else might find pleasure out of it.

And humans are in fact selfless. Children towards their parents (and even people they don't know), parents towards their children. You towards your friends. It's called social interaction and if you deny that I won't bother arguing anymore.

See your basing your views on what the current trends are and ignoring the fact that its that way b/c of how society has evolved. Out side of a family unit and sometimes within you still get strife and purely self serving mentality

So where did Japanese people take their values from then? Or Bush-men? Surely not from the Christian god, right?

Well from the research I have done the earliest record records of “golden rule” statements come from ancient Egypt and Hebrew texts, and since I cant personally travel back and see who taught who we may never know if it was developed by one or the other.

Religion is used to tell people why they should believe in those values. It's not the reason for them.

That is something that is still open for debate b/c like I said humane nature is not to look out for each other

@ mesoteto: You are arguing against scientific facts. It has been proven that humans from all societies and countries indeed show the same kind of social behaviour. Religion is not needed for this and Evolution explains it perfectly.

I thought this was general knowledge?

i have never seen this, can you provide a link please

b/c all that i can think of is how differnt cultures norms beliefs and behaviors are around the world

@edit---

 Proof, look at every utopian society ever established that is based on equal treatment and resources-they all fail b/ eventually the needs of the self out way the needs of the many and people act upon that

Its only thru out side influence do people adapt better behavior

I'm not talking about culture. I'm talking about selfness and such things and certain behaviours. This is pretty much general knowledge: All humans are social life forms. Like dogs, dogs are also social life forms and they don't need religion for it.

This was caused by evolution: It appeared that only those groups of humans who helped each other survived and thus only humans with strong social behaviour were able to have children. This happened way before Christianity.

^valid point about evolution but your using it incorrectly

for the longest time our family units were based on the Alpha male mentality, and surely you cant call that system anything but about self

you survive based on how well you can please the alpha male, you want nothing more then to be the alpha male, and you only get what teh alpha male does not use

when everything revolved around getting to that point and then being in charge how can you call that selflessness?

Because the Alpha male may have been the leader of a social group but that never stopped the other humans from interacting. You still have that mentality today in democracy. We still elect our leaders and we chose those who we think will do the best job at leading us. You also see that in a group of dogs and in small social groups of humans, they often chose a boss.

That doesn't contradict being selfless or social, though.