We can have as much morality without a God as we can have with one - SWITCH

We've spoken of this in distinctly philosophical terms Allow me to bring it home with some more practical application. Consider first, the opposition, a quote from a Dr. Richard Dawkins: "The most successful speaker, I think, on the archbishop's side was actually an atheist, and he made the point that although he was an atheist, he said that people need religion, and I thought that was what won the floating vote over: People need religion, even though religion is false. He was the last speaker, so there was no chance to reply to that, but if I had a chance to reply, I would have said, "What a patronizing, condescending thing to say: 'We intellectuals are too intelligent to need religion, but you hoi polloi, you ordinary people down there, you need religion.'" What a patronizing, condescending thing to say. Nevertheless, the evidence seems to be that insofar as there were people won over by a speech, it was the speech by that atheist." It is an interesting thing to note. For all his "I love truth" posturing, when it comes to a point like this, Dawkins abandons any attempt to comment on the TRUTH of the claim, falling back on philosophically irrelevant, emotionally-charged attacks about how insulting the claim is. Let us grant him his claim! Let us confess that it IS insulting and condescending! But now we're still left with the question, is it true? Well, I'll see your Dr Dawkins and I'll raise you a Benjamin Franklin: "think how great a Proportion of Mankind consists of weak and ignorant Men and Women, and of inexperienc'd and inconsiderate Youth of both Sexes, who have need of the Motives of Religion to restrain them from Vice, to support their Virtue, and retain them in the Practice of it till it becomes habitual, which is the great Point for its Security; And perhaps you are indebted to her originally that is to your Religious Education, for the Habits of Virtue upon which you now justly value yourself. If men are so wicked with religion, what would they be if without it." I second the point. There is many a theist turned atheist who yet maintain the morals of their youth. A close self-examination may lead them to realize that they have a greater tendency toward uprightness than their atheist-from-childhood counterparts. I much prefer Benjamin Franklin's sentiment, as a commentary on truth. It well may be an insulting thing to say, but insofar as it is true, we have at stake the morality of generations, and the suffering which may come from a lack of that morality. Let us value that suffering sufficiently to not stop thinking, just because a claim seems distasteful. Some few there are who would have restrained themselves from crime, if they were believers, some very great many who would have paid stricter heed to honesty and consideration, were things otherwise. Furthermore, I know of at least one case, where one restrained themselves from suicide on the basis of believing it to be a sin. One might ask, on what grounds it was necessary for religions to include this teaching in their creeds, and we must naturally suppose it is because there WAS a need, there WAS a group of people whom they hoped to affect by affecting the stance, a group who might have taken their lives, but were influenced by the moral teachings of religion to hold on a bit longer. It is also worth noting, to what degree a happy person is a good person. Desperation can drive one to dastardly action, if there is no consolation to maintain one's strength of psyche. Religion provides community support, and comfort in desperate times. These are indirect, not direct supports for morality, as they contribute to general happiness, and in this way cut out from under it part of what motivates people to err from within the midst of agony. Indeed, studies have listed the correlations with happiness, and found that religiosity has a moderately strong correlation with happiness, buttressing the anecdotal claims of comfort and support. By means both direct and indirect, religion contributes to a moral society. It mandates morality and holds out happiness. As also, it counters the inevitable failings of moral relativism; it provides an unshifting philosophical basis for appeals to a higher morality than the individual's whim.