As an atheist, I think there are lots of things religions get up to which are of value to non-believers - and one of those things is trying to be a bit better than we normally manage to be.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
If you look within the United States, religion seems to make you a better person. Yet atheist societies do very well - better, in many ways, than devout ones.
The problem of good as it faces the atheist is this: Nature, which is the nuts-and-bolts reality for the atheist, has no values and thus can offer no grounding for good and evil. Values on the atheist view are subjective and contingent.
I'm personally a nonbeliever, so I'm struggling with if we really need religion.
I tend to place my own value in spirituality rather than religiosity.
I'm still very much an atheist, except that I don't necessarily see religion as being a bad thing. So, that's a weird thing that I'm struggling with that seems to be offending both atheists and people that are religious.
I don't think atheism means one does not believe in a spiritual life. I think it means one does not follow the tenets of the established religions.
The word 'religion' is only a label. What lies behind that, the most important thing of all, is the word 'faith'. You either have faith, or you don't have faith, or you have degrees of faith - and if you have degrees of faith, then you become agnostic. You're kind of in-between, or you're on the fence.
I do not value religion chiefly for its morality.
Religion enables us to ignore nothingness and get on with the jobs of life.
What value is there in faith without works? And what are they worth if they are not united to the merits of Jesus Christ, our only good?