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I can only speak for myself, but I try to treat the people I encounter well because people that don't are, in my experience, dicks. No higher power necessary. I've also found in my life that trying to derive purpose from some external motivator (religion, self-help books, etc.) is a recipe for temporary motivation only. Real, lasting change comes from self-discovery and discipline, in my opinion.

I would love to see stats on religious prevalence and incidence of crime, homocide, etc. My guess is that such stats won’t put religion (especially Christianity) in a favorable light.

You mean self-righteousness and a superiority complex. The person who lives a decent life because it is right for everyone is morally superior to someone who lives a decent life because he fears of being cast into a lake of fire.

And even then, Christians murder more people in the US than anyone, per-capita or otherwise.