In Response to Megan Cronin's Question

Megan asked the question, "If there was no reward (ex. Heaven) for doing good, would we do wrong more often?"

My blatant response to this would be, do we see all the atheists and agnostics committing acts of crime? As a first response to seeing Megan's question it is basic and doesn't cover all other areas of religion but as an example, we do not generally see atheists committing more criminal acts because of their lack of a belief in Heaven. And there are those who may believe in Heaven who are sitting in jail cells at the moment.

It all seems to come down to the question of, "will we get in trouble?" Forgetting the reward of Heaven, if we go with the fear of not getting into Heaven then it makes perfect sense that, relinquishing that fear and saying there is no Heaven, people could develop a sense of wrongdoing. However, I personally believe that it has to come down to a persons conscience. A persons conscience may be rooted to their religious beliefs, their upbringing, or maybe even their genetic disposition (oh human nature). So, would we do wrong more often if we knew there were no Heaven? I think it trully depends on each individual and their own conscience.

So my question, kind of going along with Megan's, is...is it merely the fear of not getting into Heaven that keeps most people "in line"?