Re: Are we naturally bad?...Do we need to be controlled?...
Just think about how babies are....they conform to nature...which I think by nature human beings are good. When babies observe us adults, they pick up things like lying, cheating, bullying etc. Yes we do have a defense mechanism within us that allows us to retalliate and we do have inherent selfishness, ego etc but these can all be dormant qualities if we so wish. So its our upbringing which determines which of our qualities we will portray later on in our lives.
As for the religion instilling fear and accountability...I do know there are religious people who commit crimes and sins...so the fear aspect does not really work does it? In an instance, a lady who used to lie got caught out and when I confronted her, she said...I am a Christo...I go to church...I cannot lie! I cannot lie being a lie in itself. What a load of....