In a nutshell:
I have been told time and again by Christians that we cannot be "good without God". There are studies that show even the implication of being watched is enough to cause people to modify their behavior, to the point where increased illumination can have a deterrent effect on crime or other "deviant" behavior.
This is a powerful argument: that the usefulness of God trumps supersedes the question of whether or not it is, in fact, true. If placing a sign that says "This area under closed circuit surveillance" reduces the incidence of vandalism, for example, then should it matter that people walking through the area cant tell where the camera are located (or if they in fact exist)?
The argument has its support in clinical research, which supports the notion that people tend to act in ways more in line with what is seen to be moral, and judge others more readily
, when being observed. Even having a poster of a pair of eyes on the wall can produce behavior that tends to align with socially acceptable morality.
Given this, and with what seems to be a predisposition for imagining gods anyway, should we be attacking this useful and easily accessible tool for moderating the behavior of our species?
And for theists:
If the best method for ensuring "good" behavior is to convince people that they are under constant surveillance, real or imaginary
, what does that say about humanity? Are we so ill as a species that only exploiting our paranoia controls our psychopathy?