I’d like to suggest “morals” and “moral law” and all the moral beliefs humans, or “men,” or the ruling elites, adopt & enforce, and also the “morality” that is accepted by and spread among the ordinary classes … neither come “from God” nor are simply made up by men.
In every society across the globe at different moments in time the religious beliefs, customs, laws and institutions adopted by humanity depend … on the past history and present state of the society in which they live. As society changes in fundamental ways, the morality and customs and laws change — one can say “evolve.”
When and where slavery was needed for society to function it tended to be accepted and excused. Institutions of marriage and divorce, the extent of women’s personal freedom, political rights for the popular classes, the idea that slavery is fundamentally immoral, etc. — these didn’t come from “God” and aren’t simply dreamt up by men. Until material conditions mature enough to make new moral rules and the idea of “human” or “God-given” rights to be at least conceivable, as a rule no elements in society will advance or fight for them.
