[DeusExMachina]

> why exactly do you need a deity to tell you to love your fellow man?

Because that is not a given, as shown by the entirety of human history. Without God, the only arguments for love, or what is right, is just what people think/feel/agree on at a certain time and place, which has a lot of variations and is definitely not universal.

> Do you need god in your life to want to love your children?

Most people don't need God to love their children, and the ones that don't might not be convinced otherwise by God.

That said, what do you do exactly for that love? Do you cheat and steal to guarantee their future over others? If not because of some "benefit to society" logical argument that would convince no-one, why would one even care about that and not exploit society for their own benefit?

Almost everyone loves themselves and their family above all others. Only God can tell you to love your neighbors and even your enemies.

There are still many societies around the world where most people are mostly self centered and you can see the results. You are taking for granted many values you have, as if you arrived to them logically and indipendently instead of learning them from your parents and a society that derived them from God for centuries.

[arunabha]

Doesn't that only shift the question to what God wants you to do and in turn who interprets God's will?

Said another way, how would you conclude with any certainty that you are indeed following God's will with any action you take?

[dpoloncsak]

Are we completely ignoring the tonnes of awful things people have done in the name of their god? Belief in a higher power doesn't automatically make you good/bad. The same is true of the inverse.

>Without God, the only arguments for love, or what is right, is just what people think/feel/agree on at a certain time and place, which has a lot of variations and is definitely not universal.

Lets ignore that laws exist for a second....Does god say everybody in Manhattan should reserve the left side of the escalators for people walking up them, and the right should be left for people just standing and escalating? No, but somehow a majority of the population figured it out. Society still has rules, both spoken and unspoken, whether god is in the picture or not

[jimbokun]

If you are serious about these questions, read Dominion by Tom Holland. He makes a very long and thorough historical case that Christianity has contributed more good than bad over the centuries. (I don’t know what comparable works are for other religions.)