it's like I was telling a Christian friend of mine earlier today; just because you've been 'born again' doesn't mean that you weren't born an asshole.

Religion does NOT "equal goodness".
Some of the worst atrocities in the history of humanity have been committed in
the name of gods. The Crusades, all the Inquisitions, etc.
There are also atrocities that have been committed by the the godless.

Humans are historically really good at behaving in less than human capacities.
Religion, however, is used to justify this behavior.

OMG, you look at the headlines. The xians screaming at people of color, worried about sharing a stall next to a trans person, worried about gays adopting babies or getting married and on and on and on. Aside from the fact I know some truly great Christians who really embody the best of humankind, I'm not too impressed with Xian generosity, kindness, gentleness, or intelligence. So, no religion is about the opposite of goodness.

If the only reason you're a nice person is because your religion has in someway threatened you to be a good person, you're not a good person.

You have got to be kidding. The most morally corrupt people I know are religious fanatics.

No, it's the person, whether religious or not, who's integrity shows respect and kindness to everyone they meet.

Nice people don't have to be told to be nice, nor do they have to hide beneath a day-glow cloak and cross to advertise to all how nice they are.

I have never thought one needed religion to have a conscience.

No agnostic or atheist has ever told me that I was going to burn in hell.

Just the opposite. Many of the wars and atrocities throughout history have been in the name of religion. Show me one war, occupation, or armed conflict in the name of atheism lol

People are human beings and come in lots of variations. Religious people are no more or less good than non religious people. Religious people are often more hypocritical that non religious people because, they purport to be good because they are religious, whereas, when atheists are good they don’t need a reason to be so. Goodness is a reward in itself. Religious people quite often also adopt a stance of moral superiority over those of us who are atheists and assert that we are not just morally inferior but that we have no morals at all. This is something that I find particularly offensive and find it difficult to get them to understand that we don’t need the promise of an eternal life in the hereafter to act in an honest and moral way towards our fellow human beings.

Depends on your definition of "nicer".

Religion often has as its goal, a faux gentility, a "make nice" or "don't make waves" ethos, wherein it's considered "rude" or crassly confrontational to disagree with the shared fiction everyone is supposed to be supporting.

By this definition, the areligious are decidedly Not Nice, because we are at best indifferent to the things that enrapture the religious, and at worst, openly opposed to it and willing to share considered reasons for same. As such, we represent an existential threat. Subjectively, we seem to them to be assaulting them for nefarious reasons. Simply tearing them down out of pure hatred.

On the other hand if "niceness" is defined as civility, default mutual respect and acceptance, non-judgmentalism, celebration of diversity as a strength, then the tables turn the other way and it becomes the religious that are authoritarian, closed off, withheld, controlling, impertinent, aggressive, arrogant ... and it becomes the areligious who are open, inclusive, tolerant and kind.

And of course then there's the problem that a minority of the religious are actually pretty nice people in spite of their religion, and a minority of the areligious are actually asshats in spite of their areligion. It's never super clear-cut.

Henry James said that history is a bath of blood. The remotest knowledge of history or of the shenanigans going on as we speak answers the question.
In God is Red, native American Vine Deloria states that in over 2000 years christianity has not "civilized" people.

=poison ????

For me at least religious belief equals belief without evidence which is of itself dangerous and can and does lead to atrocity.

Quite the opposite.

I do my best to be good to everyone not because of religion but that is how I would like to be treated by everyone. I do not make friends based upon religion , politics,race or their beliefs rather I make friends based on whether they treat others with respect.

I don’t think it necessarily makes you nicer to be without belief. It removes several easy ways to be manipulated into being unintentionally cruel to your fellow humans. It removes several reasons to be nice as well but hopefully not your only reasons. If religious reasons are the only reason you’re nice, surprise, you’re a selfish manipulative asshole. So those of us without belief who are trying to be nice anyways are certainly more genuine about it than those hoping for a cookie in the afterlife for it.

I was an asshole when I knew Jebus. Now I'm cool. So no, religion does not make you a good person but apparently atheism does.

Nope.

There is goodness in most if not all religions, but they preach goodness from a bedrock of nonsense.

Even a broken clock is correct twice a day. But religious goodness is goodness as an interpretation of Thiest teachings based on what their holy books interpret as their god commands.

Real goodness is inside the individual it can certainly be influenced strongly by good parents, relatives, peers and schools..as well as good cultural upbringing. But you don't have to be a Thiest or an Athiest to be a good person..they are not mutually exclusive.

No, goodness comes from within the individual. Psychological problems aside, the better the upbringing the higher the chance of 'goodness'.

If, when you use the term "Religion" you are talking about Christianity, then the answer is definitely NOT!

Religion subverts both Goodness and Truth. Read Nietzsche, you don't have to subscribe to his values to realize his arguments against Christianity are valid.

IMHO, religious or not, good people are good people.

Yes. Without religion us heathens are just rapists and murderers.