"I do not however do it out of fear of retribution of a God"
So many people reject a sixth-grader's concept of religion, apparently thinking that's all there is.
And they seem often to be the same people who slam others for being inadequately versed in the physical sciences.
Ironic.
In response to your question, though, I'd rather have my kid watched by someone who is good because they're hoping they make it into paradise, because:
(1) As Will and Ariel Durant point out, "Does history warrant the conclusion that religion is necessary to morality -- that a natural ethic is too weak to withstand the savagery that lurks under civilization and emerges in our dreams, crimes, and wars? ... There is no significant example in history, before our time, of a society successfully maintaining moral life without the aid of religion."
In plain language, people who are good because they want their own regard and that of their fellows have a history of caving when the steel starts smacking the flesh. They don't march into the Colosseum singing and giving thanks as the lions munch on them.
and (2) They have their eyes on eternity, rather than presuming any evils they do in this life will be erased with their physical death.
Such people are far more reliable than those who rely on a faux morality with no sounder foundation than, "I think..."
"Such people are far more reliable than those who rely on a faux morality with no sounder foundation than, "I think..."
Faith is just as much of an "I think" as anything else, some people just happen to regard it on a higher plane.