Ben only asserts. Watch, you'll see.

What can I say Im an optimistic person.

It's absurd to think that humanity was a group of brutish, evil monsters without empathy before religion was "invented." Many aspects of religion were outgrowths of capacities well advanced by evolution in the human species before they ever decided to link these capacities with supernatural beings.

Empathy came first, religion followed.

But religion got itself all tied up with all kinds of hypocrisies. And, humans just got smarter, and reject fairy tales as fact.

But empathy remains, since we are hard-wired for it.

Empathy came first, religion followed.

But religion got itself all tied up with all kinds of hypocrisies. And, humans just got smarter, and reject fairy tales as fact. — Questioner

Yes, although some religious folk will say that since goodness emanates directly from God’s nature, we are good because it reflects God’s nature, with empathy being a part of the divine character. This would predate religion.

I’ve generally held that theists have no objective basis for moral beliefs. A key indicator of this is that even within a single religion all they can do is disagree on most moral issues. No one can demonstrate which god is real, or what that god believes about morality. It's all contested interpretations. So what we have are vehement disagreements between believers about what’s good. God doesn’t solve any problems when it comes to making moral decisions.