>Although I agree with much that you say, there is one point that I am not so sure about.
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>You and I agree that murder (for example) is bad, but how are we humans supposed to know this, if we ain't educated by religion? As you know, diverse cultures have had very different sets of values; about almost anything that we consider important. Therefore, perhaps, we can't rely on common sense as our sole guidance.
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I don't think it is too much of a stretch to argue that significant amounts of murder have been committed in the name of religion (consider the Inquisition as an example),or that several intrinsicly immoral people have had significant religious exposure (consider the Mafia).

My point is that with so many people with no firm religious exposure having a strong moral code, and so many people with significant religious exposure having no moral code, it is very hard to draw a relationship between the two.

Consider also that wildly variant religions (Judeo-Christian, Hindu, Buddist, or even Greek/Roman gods) have equivalent basic moral codes. That also inclines me to the belief that the one is not dependant upon the other.