"Why Believe in God" ad campaign

[Tom]

There was discussion in another thread recently of how religion, though it has been associated with many bad acts throughout history was not necessarily the source of or cause for these acts. People at times are apt to do bad things to other people, and while they might claim religion as a reason for their acts, it is likely that without religion, many of the same things would have happened, though they would have been given a different rationale.

I think something similar is at work in the question of religion and goodness. There is an obvious utility to society in ideas such as treating your neighbor the way you would like to be treated, and so if there were no religion to use as a framework to teach and enforce that notion, it would have been taught and enforced in another way. So sure, it is accurate to say that our values historically come from a religious source, but we were going to come to those values one way or another, because they are needed for a functioning society.