QUOTE(KINGdinguhling @ Jan 27 2009, 12:48 PM)

yeah i agree with that shit, but think of it this way, are your current beliefs and morals not at all influenced by some sort of religion? bible is shit, but it does do good in terms of regulating people....well, most people
it's a case of mistaken identity, & false causality.
i mean, what do you think came first... the social contract not to kill, a conscience, a repulsion to violence... or the commandment, "thou shall not kill." british common law, which our law is primarily derived from, existed in england long before christianity came knocking @ their door. my point is as follows, religion is not at all, truly, related to our most fundamental moral character, all of that is accounted for in hobbes' theory of social contract. however, things like feeling guilty about masturbating, refusing to sell alcohol on a sunday, & "saving yourself until marriage," are, more or less, sustained in religion, designed around archaic society.
so, no. religion doesn't do good in terms of regulating people, it does a shit job. note also, of course, that religious people are more likely to commit crime, less likely to be educated, more likely to marry & have children, less likely to read a f*cking book.
correlation does not imply causation:
remember lisa simpson's anti-tiger rock? i do... i do.