Lemme share a little story here...
Not long ago, I was taking the light-rail train to the Mall of America to meet up with my girlfriend. While on there, there was this young man who was clearly either drunk out of his mind or severely drugged up, as he could barely stand, talked sluggishly, and was hardly conscious. All throughout the ride, everyone else in the train refused to look at him or speak to him.
Not me.
I saw how crappy the guy looked, and repeatedly offered him my seat to sit and rest, since all other seats were taken and thus forcing him to somehow stand on that rickety, shaking train. He refused my offer, though showed gratitude for my concern, and when we got off the train, I sincerely wished him well and made sure he could get on his bike and ride properly before I went on my way.
I am not religious. I am not in any way a person of faith. I don't believe in the supernatural or paranormal. And yet, I was the only person kind enough to give a damn about this pathetic guy who, for all I know, probably has been really having it rough in life right now. Was he kicked out of his house? Did he lose his job? Does he have a bunch of kids he can't possibly care for? The list can go on endlessly. I have no idea what his situation is. It's entirely likely that he is dead now, probably having overdosed or taken his own life.
But I feel a little better with the knowledge that the poor guy had at least one person show him a bit of compassion. If the reaction of the others on the train was any indication, he probably rarely got that sort of treatment from people. I was putting myself in his situation, and realized that if I was like that, I personally would be hugely desperate for a speck of kindness. Those pretentious, pompous jerks on that train wouldn't even glance at him, or if they did, they probably were staring rudely.
I don't need religion to be a kind and thoughtful person. That's one big mistake of religion: they think if you don't have it, you are automatically somehow 'incomplete' or 'flawed' and cannot truly be a virtuous person. How much you wanna bet those people on that train have some kind of God, and yet couldn't bother to offer a seat to that miserable fellow?
In conclusion: I don't need religion to be a good person. And get very offended when people of faith try to convince me it will do me good.