I’ll add my 2 cents on this (couldn’t earlier, timezone difference + during the summer I usually wake up around 11-12)
easily skip-able
I do believe that human beings have the capacity to be moral without religion. Actually, I believe that all humans (perhaps with negligible exceptions; later in text PWNE) are by default moral, even savages, since everybody (PWNE) have some feeling of right or wrong, even if you or most people don’t concur with their “right” or their “wrong”.
That is what makes discussing morality very tricky, which is why most people talk about “objective” or “general” morals mostly. That doesn’t make it much easier, since there is no true “objective” morality. Morality slightly differs from person to person in certain situations (probably the most famous example: abortion) morality can also differ from place to place, which makes me come to an important part about morality: nurture.
Nurture is what shapes a big portion of a person’s morality. This holds for both religious and nonreligious people. Nurture comes from your family, and your society. This is why religion has had an influence on everybody’s morality. It didn’t have to be a direct influence (you being religious), but it could come indirectly. It could come from your surroundings, if it’s religious, however that is not the only way, and not the most prominent way.
I think we can all agree that every religion has its own morality that it tries to propagate. Even though you might not be religious, people in your society might not be religious, even if the same holds for your parents and grandparents etc., and their parents and grandparents etc ., some way down the line your ancestors were religious (if not, I must say WOW!!!!). Religion influenced their morality, and through nurture that same influence came to you, which is why religion as influenced the morality of everybody. It doesn’t necessarily define a person’s morality, but influence’s it.
To give some sort of conclusion:
Nature: gives the foundation of morality (the concept of right and wrong)
Nurture (which was influenced by religion):
shapes one’s morality.
Individuality (be it because of nature or nurture- I don’t want to get into a debate about that):
gives the finishing touches to one’s morality (ex. abortion :P)
P.S. Some things I’d like to add:
I wrote the first part thinking that my post would be longer (I’m not just a stubborn_d0nkey but also a lazy_d0nkey) so it turned out that it wasn’t really necessary, but I’ll leave it anyways (with the spoiler tag and comment)
I’d also like to comment on some types of arguments, and their strength when dealing with morality.
I myself despise arguments like “everybody says…” “most people believe…”, however when dealing with (general) morality they can’t be dismissed as easily as in other debates. Yeah the don’t prove something true, but when talking about morality it is usually close to impossible, if not impossible, to prove something true (ex. abortion again)
Also often, one exception doesn’t disprove an argument about “general” morality as it does with other things (like seeing one blue elephant automatically disproves the statement: all elephants are pink)
I had some other things I wanted to add (that were more crucial than what I did add) but I forget them (I’m not just a stubborn_d0nkey or a lazy_d0nkey but also a forgetful_d0nkey)
EDIT1: First thing I remembered
If it is not obvious: I do think I person can be moral without religion, however I also believe that that person's morality was influenced by religion.