Humans can have morality without God.

First of all by definition an Atheist is "A person who disbelieves or lacks belief in the existence of God or gods" (http://www.oxforddictionaries.com...) I have already openly stated in round two that I do not recognise the existence of a God, if you need further evidence I also don't believe in fate, luck or karma. I just value the religious teachings and recognise the importance and influence of religion in modern society. However, I appreciate your reference to the new Star Wars movie (I must admit that I am a fan) FUN FACT: Jedi is also a religion "0.7% of England and Wales are members of the Jedi church as per the last UK census (2001). Brighton by far as the most consolidated jedi population, where 1 in 50 people are Jedi's" (http://www.jedichurch.org...) I hope this pleases you as then you can be just as dismissive towards the beliefs of a Jedi as you are with the beliefs of a Christian or a Muslim. The majority of the world still identify themselves with a religious group. According to the Washington times "There are 5.8 billion religiously affiliated adults and children around the globe, representing 84 percent of the 2010 world population of 6.9 billion"" That can be broken down to: 2.2 billion Christians (32 percent of the worlds population). 1.6 billion Muslims (23 percent). 1 billion Hindus (15 percent). 500 million Buddhists (7 percent). 400 million people (6 percent) practising various folk or traditional religions, including African traditional religions, Chinese folk religions, American Indian religions and Australian aboriginal religions Clearly religion still has a place in our society and plays a massive role in conveying morality. Their teachings are still relevant and accessible to modern society. Therefore, you cannot deny that religious preachings play a massive role in teaching morality. I feel like the majority of your argument has veered a little off track. You seem to be so focused on proving that God doesn't exist that your argument lacks any real relevance to morality. For example " religion is nothing more than a publisher who barges in and says, 'everything in the book is relevant to me! Remember, it was me who made these values, therefore you all should give full credit to me!" it appears to me that you are focused on a completely different agenda of diminishing the beliefs of those who have faith rather than supporting your own argument. "To end my turn, I'm here to say religion is just for spiritual support, nothing more." That is a rather bold statement to conclude on and you are perfectly entitled to that opinion however, whether you personally disregard religion or not does nothing to support your argument. You have suggested a number of times that there was morality before religion however, considering how long religion has influenced our culture and the way we have evolved as human beings I find this statement weak. "The world's oldest religion still being practiced today is Hinduism but, in what is considered 'the west', the first records of religious practice come from Egypt around 4000 BCE" (http://www.ancient.eu...) Therefore to suggest that "Because there was morality before religion, there always has been" is such as vague assumption to make it I could just as easily have said there has always been religion. There is no way to prove which of these statements is accurate. However, what we can actually prove is that religion has been embedded into our culture for nearly as long as culture has existed. If religion never existed at all then who knows what would happen. It is perfectly logical to suggest that if religion never existed what we socially consider to be right or wrong would be very different to what we consider today. Furthermore, what we consider to be morally acceptable changes as society changes therefore, what would have been considered socially acceptable 600 years ago for example wouldn't necessarily be considered morally acceptable today and vice versa. Therefore, it is impossible to suggest that without these influences we would be the same society and have the same moral values as we have today. To conclude. Religion has culturally and historically had an irreversible influence over what we consider morally acceptable in modern society and without religion we would not have the moral expectations we have today. Religion is an important tool for teaching morality to children, religious texts are relevant, accessible and provide the necessary framework for learning about what is right and what is wrong. Furthermore, a lot of the core teachings of any religious text can be applicable by those who do not recognise the existence of god. Therefore I believe that religion plays a vital role in shaping moral society. Thank you for such a interesting debate, I have enjoyed conversing with you. Well played.