Why be good?

[Jenny A]

I find it interesting how many Christians believe that moral behavior is dependent on belief in god.   Not all religions, particularly the pagan religions around Judea, tied morality to religion.  Piety and sacrifice in return for supernatural favors, yes, morality not so much.  Early Judaism doesn't appear to be much different in this regard.  Most of the law of Moses is concerned with when and how to make sacrifices to god, how to eat in a way that doesn't offend god and so on.  Morality in the modern sense is addressed much if at all.  Nor were the pagan gods particularly moral themselves (not that Yahweh is a very moral god either). Yet the Greeks were great moral philosophers and the Romans had strong moral codes.  Buddhists also have a strong sense of morality, yet they do not believe in god.

It should be perfectly obvious that morality is a social construct, not necessarily a religious one.   It is a necessity for a working society.  Societies without morality fair badly.  So to do people who behave immorally, society sees to that.  And that just isn't just laws, it's how others will treat you socially if you misbehave.  Not surprisingly since we are social animals most people actually want to behave well most of the time.