It's more than just a bit insulting when religionists claim religion is required for morality [View all]

Religionists make this claim with no evidence. There's no empirical data that suggests this is true, it's just something they believe. In fact, numerous studies suggest the opposite is true and that's just for the behaviors that pretty much everyone agrees are wrong. If you look at things like homophobia, xenophobia, and misogyny those things tend to get worse the more people adhere to various religious doctrines many of which even support those unethical behaviors.

The obvious insult is that those who are irreligious lack their moral framework and as such are inherently prone to unethical behavior. We see this implication all the time. When a person who claims to subscribe to a religious doctrine does something unethical, the immediate assertion from religionists is they aren't a true (insert belief system here). Evidently this makes it easier to rationalize than admitting their belief system itself is subject to moral failure.

The inherent problem with using religious doctrine as a moral framework is it tends to be uncompromising and resistant to changes in prevailing attitudes regarding ethical behavior. It also relies on the fallacy of circular reasoning rather than rationality. What is acceptable and unacceptable behavior today isn't the same as it was 20 years ago, and these attitudes change because of rationality. More often than not it has to drag organized religion behind kicking and screaming.