Watching the Dawkins program about religion, something struck me about many of the religious people he talked to. They seemed to believe that if there were no explicit rules and punishments from God then every body would just act badly all the time.
As someone who does not believe in God or his punishments and manages to behave in a moral and constructive way most of the time, I wonder if religion appeals to people with lower than average empathy.
By empathy I don't mean an abstract intellectual construct but the concrete physiological effect you get when you see people suffering.
The effect that makes you reach to stop someone from falling before you have time to think, as if it is part of the same system that tries to stop injuries to your own body.
Another example is watching "You've been framed" and making a sharp intake of breathe as someone falls and hits the ground hard.
It seems to me that empathy not fear of punishment is bases of morality.

PP