No morals!?

[Eleazar]

Ever hear that too? Not necessarily a Christian say it, but have you ever been told you don't have any morals because you don't believe in a higher being?

I cringe at remarks like that, cause they are so far from the truth!

Sadly, yes I have heard Christians say that, and they are deeply, deeply wrong - in fact, many of the non-theists I've met lead much more moral lives than most Christians including myself, and have a better understanding of what is right and what is wrong. If a Christian does tell you that you have no morals, tell them to go and read Romans 2:14-16.

However, many Christians are also misunderstood to be saying this when they are actually making the claim that atheism leads to problems grounding the existence of moral values (meta-ethics) and demonstrating the truth of moral claims (moral epistemology). There has been a long tradition of theists making such arguments from John Locke and Immanuel Kant through to 20th century philosophers like Robert Adams and apologists like C.S. Lewis) - there's a good article here about the different kinds of arguments that have been made over the years.