re: Can you teach a child morality without religion?

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For the atheist, Hitler and Mother Teresa are equals. The goodness of Mother Teresa is an empty goodness devoid of meaning. The atrocities of Hitler is an empty wrong devoid of any consequence. In such a worldview, morality is dead, whether or not you deny that truth.

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Ignoring that Mother Teresa is a terrible example of 'good', you're confusing atheism with nihilism.

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Someone who cared for the sick and poor is a terrible example of good?

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She solicited millions, maybe billions, in donations to her charity and then denied proper medical treatment to patients in her care.

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She solicited millions, maybe billions, in donations to her charity and then denied proper medical treatment to patients in her care.

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That is a silly mischaracterization if ever I heard one.

It doesn't change the argument... pick the good person of your choice.

Under your worldview, Hitler suffers no worse a fate than a good person. In fact, many good people and innocent children have suffered terrible fates. There is no ultimate justice. Morality is a social construct. Those are the conclusions you must come to if you are honest with your belief in no higher power.

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That is a silly mischaracterization if ever I heard one.

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In 1991, Robin Fox, editor of the British medical journal The Lancet visited the Home for Dying Destitutes in Calcutta (now Kolkata) and described the medical care the patients received as "haphazard".[4] He observed that sisters and volunteers, some of whom had no medical knowledge, had to make decisions about patient care, because of the lack of doctors in the hospice. Fox specifically held Teresa responsible for conditions in this home, and observed that her order did not distinguish between curable and incurable patients, so that people who could otherwise survive would be at risk of dying from infections and lack of treatment.

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Fox also wrote that needles were rinsed with warm water, which left them inadequately sterilised, and that the facility did not isolate patients with tuberculosis. There have been a series of other reports documenting inattention to medical care in the order's facilities. Similar points of view have also been expressed by some former volunteers who worked for Teresa's order. Mother Teresa herself referred to the facilities as "Houses of the Dying".

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In 2013, in a comprehensive review[6] covering 96% of the literature on Mother Teresa, a group of Université de Montréal academics reinforced the foregoing criticism, detailing, among other issues, the missionary's practice of "caring for the sick by glorifying their suffering instead of relieving it, … her questionable political contacts, her suspicious management of the enormous sums of money she received, and her overly dogmatic views regarding, in particular, abortion, contraception, and divorce". Questioning the Vatican's motivations for ignoring the mass of criticism, the study concluded that Mother Teresa's "hallowed image—which does not stand up to analysis of the facts—was constructed, and that her beatification was orchestrated by an effective media relations campaign" engineered by the Catholic convert and anti-abortion BBC journalist Malcolm Muggeridge.

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After Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi's suspension of civil liberties in 1975, Mother Teresa said: "People are happier. There are more jobs. There are no strikes."

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She supported Licio Gelli's nomination for the Nobel Prize in Literature. Gelli was known for being the head of the Propaganda Due masonic lodge, which was implicated in various murders and high-profile corruption cases in Italy, as well as having close connections with the neo-fascist Italian Social Movement and the Argentine Military Junta.

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"Sixty Minutes" showed film footage of her on that occasion singing the praises of Michele Duvalier, the wife of Haitian dictator Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier. Mother Teresa said that while she had met kings and presidents aplenty in her time, she had "never seen the poor people being so familiar with their head of state as they were with her. It was a beautiful lesson for me." Thereafter, Mother Teresa was awarded the Haitian Legion d'honneur.

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In case you don't know who Baby Doc is:

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Thousands of Haitians were killed or tortured, and hundreds of thousands fled the country during his presidency. He maintained a notoriously lavish lifestyle (including a state-sponsored US$?3 million wedding in 1980) while poverty among his people remained the most widespread of any country in the Western Hemisphere.

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There is this thing called "Natural Law".... even if you don't believe in God there is a law that applies to all equally.

Alas, this is a deep rabbit hole where truth may be found. The bigger question is does God exist?

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. By your logic it's impossible for morality to be separated from religion because nearly every moral tenet is in some form of religion and the religion was likely the first time it was codified

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That’s not my point

I’m not arguing where morals came from. My point is maybe religion (even if it’s not true) is the best way to have a moral structure to society that can’t be manipulated by man. Maybe it’s the best way to teach and maintain morals.

I don’t know the answer to these questions, but to assume that everyone will be moral and those morals will be good without the idea of a higher power is very naive.

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I’m not arguing where morals came from. My point is maybe religion (even if it’s not true) is the best way to have a moral structure to society that can’t be manipulated by man. Maybe it’s the best way to teach and maintain morals.

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There are actually studies going on to determine if morality (or what we consider moral behavior) is, in fact, innate. By looking at particular sectors of the brain when discussing moral or immoral choices, scientists can clearly see the brain react. If our brains can chemically decipher "right" from "wrong", it stands to reason these signatures could be there from the day we're born.

A dog tucks its tail between its legs when it knows it's done something wrong or to disobey you. It has no idea what morality is. It doesn't know what religion is. A 3 year old lies when she knows she's done something she shouldn't have. Why does she lie? Because of God?

We're pre-wired. No amount of religion can rewire the morality in our brains, nor can any deficit of religion bring about immorality in our brains.

I'm an atheist who has lived a good, moral life. I don't believe in "God" or "Jesus", nor any other religion. That said, I do respect those who internalize religiosity to keep themselves on the right path. Key word is "internalize"....you do you, I'll do me. Statements like yours are very insulting to those of us who do not subscribe to any religion.

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Can you teach a child morality without religion?

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Yes, but it requires making the child understand why morals are important, where they originated, and the parent must follow those morals in their own life.

But isn't society itself a sort of "higher power"?

There was a philosopher (can't remember his name) who likened society to a prison. The edges of acceptable societal behavior are lined with razor wire and armed guards, keeping most of us well contained within its constraints. I don't necessarily buy into his theory but it does help to explain why we don't need a God when we have society keeping us in check.