“Ethics” as signaling
Maybe &#x27;religious labels as signaling&#x27; would be a better title.<p>Religion is a rather complex institution, involving metaphysics, ie a dichotomy between the sacred&#x2F;holy&#x2F;divine and the profane&#x2F;ungodly; human organizations and activities and social hierarchies; rituals; and yes, codes of behavior.<p>Ethics is the study of moral principles that govern choices and behavior. I like to think that there are some universal moral principles that are instinctive or even game-theoretically necessary to cooperative human activities, and there are other ethical principles that particular societies or religions choose to agree on.<p>To the extent someone views ethics as a signaling mechanism, it no longer fits the definition of ethics.