Sad Marsh Ghost

I dispute the concept that doing something because you expect intense reward or are fearing intense punishment is truly altruistic. An unrepentant monster would perhaps stop their misdeeds if you threatened them with provable eternal torture or offered them a guaranteed billion dollars and immortality, but I don't see any increased morality overall in chasing these things.

I think that in certain specific situations monotheistic religion is beneficial to community happiness (the chance to see a dead loved one again, maybe), but its overall effect on society is too pernicious to really make me look particularly kind on it. I believe overall it causes as much, if not maybe more, unhappiness than it does happiness. I see no correlation between religion and being a more moral person, even if I think it's arguable that some religious people will be frightened in to behaving better or being more charitable.