(September 10, 2011 at 9:01 am)StatCrux Wrote: If I were to meet an atheist who presents as a happy, confident, solvent individual, beautiful family, good friends etc (you get the picture) who went on to tell me the secret of his success in life was to lie, cheat, steal and stab others in the back at every opportunity, take no prisoners and give no quarter, be ruthless with strangers and only protect family and loved ones. How could I tell him that his behavior was "wrong" or "evil" using an atheistic worldview? "The tears of strangers are only water" would be an apt motto for this individual.
Atheism has nothing to say about people morals or a 'world view' it is just a lack of belief in god or gods. It is perfectly possible for an atheist to believe in pixies because pixies are not gods.
However most atheists are moral people, probably because most dont believe that there is anoher life they value this one and the life of others more than theists who seem to mainly have a belief in a cosmic, move to the next level type thing when they die.
You can see the fact that atheists are on the whole more moral by the way secular countries treat people. The religious ones are the most likely to have the death penalty for example.
You can fix ignorance, you can't fix stupid.
Tinkety Tonk and down with the Nazis.
