Atheists were influence by religion

Question is in response to the article, "Where does morality come from, if not God?"

I'm happy (or maybe not so much) to admit that religion has influences on my morality. So do books, movies, etc.That doesn't mean that those are the source of morality. I can be influenced by a film that merely parroted someone else. It's not a great way to assess the topic.

It's not clear what the writer's point is here... that because we may be influenced by religion, that therefore religion is the sole source of morality? I almost decided to ignore this response because it has so little substance.

But, looking at the train of thought - pain also influences morality... so by that logic, isn't pain then the source of morality? Wouldn't following the same path lead to multiple contradictory positions?

When atheists grill theists on the topic of morality, the majority of theists ultimately admit to non-theistic reasons. It could be suffering-mitigation, or getting along with each other in a cooperative society... but at the end of the day, most religious people admit that morality is much less vacuous than merely a being/entity telling us, or educating us, on to behave.

The situation isn't that dire. We can actually investigate these things.

Do you believe slavery is wrong because due to empathy, suffering and other non-religious reasons, or because the religion - or a god - said so?