Perhaps I am naive. But I see religious institutions offering, essentially, bribes by promising eternal life in exchange for believing and obeying doctrine. I don’t see accepting the offer as evidence of goodness.

Am I relocating goodness inside the person? Yes. Is that a mistake or simplification? I respectfully disagree.

Our common humanity man’s recognizing that what we all have in common as human being is huge and our differences are rather minimal. And that means treating others as you’d treat yourself is something that sensibly follows. In other words, the Golden Rule itself makes perfect sense given our nature as people.