The only person Woods needs forgiveness from is his wife, because she is the one he harmed. Morality is a question of harm; if you harm another, you have committed an immoral act. One doesn't need to believe in a deity to ask for forgiveness and one doesn't need to apologize or seek forgiveness from this deity.
Also, is the Christian religion's appeal built on its offer for people to be forgiven — not necessarily by the person they harmed but by a deity? If someone is helped psychologically by the Christian or any religion, that is fine, but religion is not the only way to resolve these kinds of problems.
When we harm one another, we need to correct the problems here on earth. When someone takes actions that do not harm others, he or she should not feel the need to apologize to any deity.
The belief exists that morality and deity are interconnected. In reality, belief in a deity and the deity's moral rules was created to codify the basic moral standards that human beings had been practicing for tens of thousands of years. The Bible says not to murder or steal, not so much because of a deity's command but because these kinds of actions destabilized society and created harm. Thus, the rules were given the weight of a deity's commands.
Michael Larson
Anniston
