Why be good?

[henryp]

*Lecture hat on*

Now, I'm not in any way claiming everyone is good. Of course not. I'm not even claiming every country or society is good. Some are fucking awful. But there are societies that are "good enough" and many of them are ones where religion is not much of a factor.

Parents teaching their children how to behave is just part of evolution. We aren't born with all the knowledge we will need. And what is taught will depend on what the parents value as "morality". But notice how parents still do need to teach this, and theists fully expect this. Parents don't just teach children about jesus and leave it at that. What they actually do is probably closer to teaching them how to behave like an atheist would, and then attributing loads of things to religion and using it as a threat to help keep children in line. So the kids grow up thinking there is an actual link between the religion and their morality, because this idea has been drummed into them. And as adults, clearly, they still believe it. The fact that loads of people de convert and on the whole don't become the frothing maniacs they have been told they would turn into goes to show it just isn't true.

But that's just reality. If people are interested in it. If parents can't come up with a better reason to tell their children why they should behave well than "it will make jesus cry" or "there's a man in the sky who will burn you forever but who loves you" then they are pretty rubbish parents. Or, to be fair, they are parents who are suffering the effects of intense indoctrination and really do believe those things are the only reason.

*Lecture hat off*

Sometimes there aren't better reasons for an individual to behave well than make-believe punishments.  That's probably why religion was developed to begin with.

And you of course skipped the most important part of secular 'good.'  And that's the law.  I've seen Oz.  That shit is scarier than a story about hell in an old book.