To be fair the religious argument does make some sense. Even if the religious person does have a sense of morality that is separate from their own faith, other people might not. They could claim that the fear of hell, or weekly preachings about morality at religious institutions, or religious charities, etc, make many people far more altruistic than they would otherwise be and therefore makes the world better off.
I don’t agree with this actually, but it’s a very reasonable argument that is separate from the truth of religion or what moral values the person arguing it actually has.
To be fair the religious argument does make some sense. Even if the religious person does have a sense of morality that is separate from their own faith, other people might not. They could claim that the fear of hell, or weekly preachings about morality at religious institutions, or religious charities, etc, make many people far more altruistic than they would otherwise be and therefore makes the world better off.
I don’t agree with this actually, but it’s a very reasonable argument that is separate from the truth of religion or what moral values the person arguing it actually has.