moral authority
Noun
Meaning
(of a person, institution, or written work) The quality or characteristic of being respected for having good character or knowledge, especially as a source of guidance or an exemplar of proper conduct.
One possessing this characteristic.
The right or power to act (or direct others to act), based on the belief that the actor is moral, rather than on the actor having or needing some formal power to do so.
Source: en.wiktionary.orgExamples
A god that created the world and then walked off the site leaving it to its own devices is not a fit object of worship, nor a source of moral authority.
We need a regime change in this country.... If we launch a pre-emptive strike on Iraq we lose all moral authority.
Laws that oppress people have no moral authority.
Our moral authority is as important, if not more important, than our troop strength or our high-tech weapons. We are rapidly losing that moral authority, not only in the Arab world but all over the world.
Truth is the secret of eloquence and virtue, the basis of moral authority it is the highest summit of art and of life.
what you hear in my voice is fury, not suffering. Anger, not moral authority.