"I guess I would say that there are a lot of very rational people who live their lives within the context of a religious tradition. Those outside the tradition often don't understand it and see it as something irrational and dangerous - as indeed it can be. I think it's useful to think of religion as tradition, rather than ideology - but when it gets ideological, it's likely to become dangerous.

But almost every religious tradition has gentle, generous, thoughtful, rational people whose lives seem to indicate that there must be something of value in their tradition. I hope I'm that sort of person myself."-Joe-

As far as it's possible for me to tell, Joe, I think you are. But remember, those kinds of fine people are just as likely to be living outside of any religious traditions, or their manner is informed by other traditions as well. There are other kinds of traditions: familial, cultural, self-invented.

I grew up in a community who were traditionally decent and kind and generous, although they came from three wildly different Christian denominations. No one, friend or stranger, could walk into their houses without being given food and drink - whether they wanted it or not. If a neighbour was in danger of going hungry, boxes of fresh produce or fish would mysteriously land on their doorstep. If a neighbour was sick, people went to their house and helped them, brought food, did housework. If a person died, the wake became an occasion to fill the house of the bereaved with food, and each neighbour put what money they could afford into a sympathy card or an envelope, to help pay for the funeral and other expenses. Visiting each other was an everyday thing.

Religion they took for granted; everybody had one, and it was the one you were born with, unless you married into one of the others. You could say they lived inside religious traditions, and it would be somewhat true. But when I left home, and in the years since, I discovered that despite having similar religious traditions, other communities, just a few hundred km. away, were not often like that. They were not likely to visit with each other very often, or might not offer food to strangers. Their funeral customs were different. They kept to themselves more, though friendly enough. They had different traditions, which I found strange to my own. But another community, another hundred km. away, would be much more like my own, though having just one denomination and an entirely different language.

Local culture, custom, and familial tradition are factors at least, if not more, important than religions in creating the 'personality' of a community. And I think you'd find atheists or agnostics carry the stamp of their community even deeper than their religious roots. You don't need religion to be gentle, generous, thoughtful, rational.