I believe so. I trace my morals not to God, but to Humanity. If you believe that "all men are created equal" (as per the Declaration of Independence), you do not need an actual Creator in order to derive the basic rules of morality (no killing, no stealing, "Love thy neighbor as thyself" etc.) which the major religions have in common. Of course, you can still have guilt if you break the rules which you derive by these principles. We all have free will - even those who believe in God have the freedom to break God's rules. It is not so much guilt as fear that Theism brings. You can have guilt without God if you hurt your fellow humans unnecessarily, but it is God who will condemn you to Hell, or whatever, for such sins.

I was never taught the 10 Commandments. However, when I found out what they were, a couple of years ago, I realised I pretty much live by them anyway. So yes, a child can grow into a normal, well rounded person without putting the fear of God into them!

Buddhism, baby. Not the saucy variations (shinto hindu amalgams) that Asian governments employ (900 different gods or statues, evil spirits etc) to unite their people. The real thing. No God required or prohibited, in fact, its agnostic, which as it applies to Buddhism is "Don't believe it until you've experienced it." Morality in general will always find a place within and without religion. Its insect politcs. Barbaric behaviour levels out into an array of fairly simple guidelines programmed into each member. An ant colony knows when to swarm on one of its members, completely dismantling it, and then get back to work. So do we.

I was raised without any specific religion. It was pretty simple really- my Mum taught me that I shouldn't hit people because I wouldn't want them to hit me, I shouldn't steal because the person I took from would be sad that they had lost something- and so on. In a way I think its easier to teach a young child about morality in that way, as it will be far easier for them to relate to than the ins and outs of religious dogma. If you're going to introduce religion in any more than a general household sense you ought to wait until the child is old enough to read and interpret the texts for themselves. Most religions have a strong "do as you would be done by" element in them, so I don't think non-religious moral teaching necessarily conflicts with religion.

YOU DON T NEED RELIGION TO KNOW WHATS RIGHT OR WRONG. ( it does help though, (its the fear thing) But, even without religion, every human on earth knows right from wrong,it is a humanitarian thing,(as imalec stated above) when you stop to help someone why do you do it, religious beliefs or it just the right thing to do ?

yes, and I even think some of them will come up with their own god, calling him `Hank` or something `yeah, Hank is always with me. He is the nicest guy you´ll ever know. He gives me advice about how to act, what is good and what is bad` Why do you think a kid scares so much if an other kid starts crying. They don´t care how or what, they know it is bad. How they know it? Because they all had the same thing at least ones.

I think to accomplish this, you would have to believe in some sort of a higher being, and then as your learning progressed, you would probably realize that this "higher being" was a God.

Only 4% of the population in Denmark, Norway and Sweden attend church weekly. Yet those countries are among the most prosperous and crime free in the world. It must be a miracle.

Teaching someone about an Almighty figure and teaching them about what is right and wrong do not go hand in hand. God is not morals, though people may use him as a means to teach them. You don't have to know about one to know the other. I was not taught anything about God from my parents. My family is essentially godless, but I have morals and all that. It's definitely possible to teach without guilt.

That particular child would be much more in tune with reality than most. Assuming the child focuses on what we believe to be true through the use of science, that child would look at religions as some sort of "Blair Witch Project" movie where some people actually think it's real. It of course would be ridiculous, but people who already believe are too blinded by the fact that they might be wrong that they can't accept their own religion's ridiculousness. . It is definitely possible and the child could live a much more fulfilling life because of it. Instead of living for something that may not exist, that child can enjoy what time there is left in his/her life. +3

I was never toght about the bible, and we never went to church. I don't steal, merder people, or a rapist. You don't need religion to teach from right and wrong.

It is very possible - you can teach right and wrong withoud God and guilt. Having been brought up with religion and giult, I knew I would never bring my kids up that way. I didn't and she is a wonderful caring, moral adult.

Removing the concept of "God" from the child would not be enough; the implications of "God" such as Theistic morality etc that would have been created by such a concept, and reinforced mindlessly by cultural normality, would also need to be removed. The Child would have to be born into a closed system with a group of other Children with no concept or implications of God. . In our modern day and age we have no possible subjects which we could observe, because every human has been affected in some way by Theistic perspectives and philosophy; either by an extreme influence for or against it. But we do have a subject we can observe from another era. . The earliest traces of man, all appeared to believe in some sort of God. They were the ones that had no outside influence of Theistic/Atheistic persuasion- but in the end they decided that there must be some sort of divinity. Nations from all over the word, no matter how different, believed in some kind of a God. It seems as if man at his very nature is geared towards the tendency to worship a God. . A great Theologian of the 15th Century, Calvin, noted this human characteristic and termed in the "sense of divinity." He reasoned that if God exists, it would make perfect sense for him to create in his creation, a need to worship a God. However, if he did not exist- this sense would not make sense. . It seems evident that the child would eventually come to create a God of some sort to worship, if left in a closed system- possibly then creating for itself a sense of morality, possibly quite similar to our own.

I don't think people need to fear God or believe in Him in order to live a 'good' life. Most people for example will not want to hurt others, because they instinctively know it is wrong and it makes them uncomfortable. I think people have an inate tendency to good and anyone involved in their education can help develop this just by helping them reflect on the consequences of their actions.

He would harpoon himself off the tallest known terrestial structure sumersaulting into a full back half spin into a scizzor split mondatwasnice splash-rava-ganzza.....(wild aplaud with an occational boo in the background) :+

It is entirely possible to teach morale without religion. Why should it not be? The decision of whether to kill or not is not one which is answered through a divine figure, but through moral reasoning which is moulded in a person by experience and those around them.