I puzzle about what you say. Do you honestly think that telling people that they will suffer some sort of punishment is they don't do what the religion tells them to do is an indication that some people are good?

Of course, they are not good. They're just been threatened, that is all. And because they're moral cowards, they will obey for a while.

And, yes, many thinkers do start out with religion. Then they think themselves right out of it.

Also, countries in northern Europe tend to be atheist. They also tend to be polite about people who believe in god. They don't get it. It's perfectly doable to have good people live in a well run country, where most people are happy (happiest in the world), and not be overrun by crime.

Being forced to do something isn't something that comes from the heart. I don't drink. Nobody in my family ever drunk. I have absolutely no desire whatsoever to not be in control of myself.

While I spent some 40 years in total studying religion, even being part of it, at this point, thank you, but no thank you. I don't need a theist to tell me that if I do this or that, I will be punished, and I must do that and that, because some primitive guru a thousand years ago decided that was what good people did.