Ancient and medieval cultures proclaimed general, universal values for those who belonged to them. In Judaism, God ‘revealed’ the Ten Commandments and the laws to Moses. He and other prophets proclaimed God's will to the chosen people. In Christianity, God ‘reveals’ himself, but in a broader way: it is not only through Jesus Christ, the prophets and the scriptures, but there are other, natural ways for understanding God such as the conscience of man or the contemplation of the beauty of nature. Muhammad, the later prophet, received direct revelations from the archangel Jibril in the cave on Mount Hira. The Buddha ‘awoke’ to the truth when, after a long inner journey and meditation, his mind became clear and quiet. The teaching,’ dharma’, means the cosmic order and is constant by its nature. A common feature in Judaism, Christianity, Islam and Buddhism is that, according to their teaching, truth exists in absolute terms, independently of mankind, and is revealed to people through gradual recognition.

Nowadays, there is an increasing emphasis on subjective, internally lived values. ‘Good’ corresponds to what feels good.

It was only with 18th century liberalism that the idea became common that man himself knew what was good for him and that everyone also had the right to actualize it through liberty (within certain limits, foremost being that it does not restrict the rights of others). This is also the basis of universal suffrage. This classical liberalism, encompassing human rights and representative democracy (among other core values), is already a cornerstone of the Western social and political order, even if there are significant differences across countries in terms of the choice of values on which state involvement is based. In most countries there is no longer a state religion, and the (formal) restrictions for women, ethnic or other minority groups are gradually shrinking, although they have not completely disappeared. Thus, a door has opened to our personal freedom, offering a hitherto unknown choice in a large part of the world, in liberal democracies.

In these societies we are living at a time when we can put together the core values of our lives the same way that we fill our trollies in a self-service store. We seem to have unlimited freedom to draw from any philosopher, thinker, major religion or religious critic. The selection on offer can be confusing.