Thank you for your post. You say:

Quote

Your secular beliefs literally force you to deny such a
possibility, that any such 'authority' exists.

I’m not sure what ‘secular beliefs’ are, but I’d say that secularism implies an absence of privilege for religious authorities in national and local government, and the freedom to believe in whatever god you wish. I am not ‘forced‘ to denythe possibility you mention, since there must always be a (vanishingly small) margin that such a god/authority or something might turn up one day.

I think my question was a fair one in response to what Ray said. If he believes that something is a sin, as against being a very seriously wrong-doing, then I think it is reasonable to wonder what the reference point or authority is which decides him.

The comparison of sin to happiness or sadness does not work. Neither of the latter two has an imaginary god or authority connected with it.
Susan