Personally I view morality to be higher than personal belief or judicial system. If you study the biology of social species there is a very clear balance of individual and group behaviors that promotes survival vs. extinction. Invariably there are those who are on the more selfish end of the spectrum (extreme example being sociopaths) and there are those who are on the more selfless end of the spectrum (extreme example see Mother Teresa). If the population as a whole shifts too far in either direction, it dies out; too selfish and it can't cooperate to maintain social structure and reproduce, too selfless and it can't compete and self-sacrifices into oblivion.
In nature selective pressures (in successful species) keep these factors in balance, but as we seem to enjoy doing in so many other areas, humans try to take a shot at regulating this evolution consciously in the form of laws and social contracts. While in many areas the direction of this tinkering is argued without end (see: economics, political "social" issues) there are several which are almost universally agreed upon. Killing, stealing and other obvious forms of harm are "banned" in order to maintain social order. In the wild, if there were too many killers or thieves in a group, that group would be unable to function and would die out (the selective pressure favoring more balanced groups in that species) but since we find it distasteful to sit around and watch a bunch of humans get themselves killed we try to cut out the middle part and jump straight to "hey... don't do that."
Alternatively however there is clearly a need for "selfish" individuals (as stated above in the example of a social species shifting *too* far towards altruism). As the wonders of capitalism have shown us, a handful of cutthroat individuals can fuel amazing innovation and improve life for the group as a whole (too many such individuals and you get the Great Recession, but humans are still not totally removed from nature so there you have it). Killers are also necessary; you certainly don't want an army of serial killers hanging around but to protect the species as a whole from intra- or interspecies violence you need a number of people willing to kill.
So ultimately morality stems from the necessary actions to preserve the species as a whole. Since we aren't quite thrilled at the prospect of having the wild brutally beat the answers into us we try to take a stab (no pun int... DAMMIT KISMET) at figuring it out ourselves. Everything after that (laws, religion, the golden rule, etc.) are just ways of communicating that primal need to SURVIVE.
lol... and JUST SAY NO TO CRABS. Ewwww.
