In our culture, moral authority is most often derived from religion or politics. A person pursues what is right and good, either because they are grounded in faith, or their belief in the fairness of their system of governance.
Dietrick Bonhoeffer (1906-1945) was a German pastor, theologian and anti-Nazi dissident. He was opposed to Hitler’s genocide of the Jews, and ran “underground seminaries” during the war. In 1943 he was imprisoned by the Gestapo. Bonhoeffer was executed in the spring of 1945.