A thought on scriptures et al. and morality

When I tell people that I do not follow or believe in the Bible or other religious scriptures, I am often asked, incredulously, what I base my ethics on. I find this curious, because as far as I can tell, no scriptures, holy books, ancient philosophies, etc., give us a moral code to follow. Rather, humans have innate intuitions about morality that are continuing to evolve as we learn more about the world and cause and effect and interact with more and more different types of people and try to all get along. That’s why when we read ancient texts now, we mostly agree that the bits on kindness and mercy are good and “timeless,” and the bits on stoning people to death for adultery or cutting their hands off for stealing are unfortunate products of their time and no longer to be followed. We decide this within our consciences and in discussion among each other. The gods, prophets, and ancient thinkers have not been providing errata or updates. (“BTW, the part about murdering the children of your enemies being okay? I changed my mind about that.–God”) Perhaps the next time someone tells me that they follow or believe in religious scriptures, I should say, “Really? Then what do you base your ethics on?”