Where do atheists get their morality from?

[genkaus]

I have used many a knife as an impromptu screwdriver or pry bar before!

That doesn't negate its intrinsic purpose. An object can have more than one purpose.

Assigning this sort of purpose, this intrinsic value, makes it some sort of agent.

No it doesn't, since it still cannot act on its own.

What are the consequences to the object when it violates its purpose?

How would it violate its purpose?

Further, what is the purpose of water?

Not everything has an intrinsic purpose.

I think you will find that one cannot escape that prescription of value to objects are repsective to the purpose of the agent utilizing the object.

Unless the purpose is ineherent to the object itself.

The second point is incorrect, for this discussion is about moral ontology, not moral epistemology, specifically that which is God's. Do you not agree, that it is better to base values on an authority (maybe it doesn't have to be God, for argument's sake) that is independent of those which are agents responsible for carrying out the values themselves?

Most certainly not. Ontologically speaking, morality cannot exist without a consciousness defining it - thus no morality would be objective. If it depends upon a conscious entity, it is subjective. It wouldn't matter if that conscious entity itself exists independently or what it is.

As for the second point - basing one's values on an authority is the most demeaning thing one can do to oneself. A rational person would try to understand his own nature and that of his environment and base his values on that. An irrational person may choose to act on range of the moment whims and desires, but atleast he is basing his values on himself. What you ask here is for a person to subvert his own nature and desires - without so much as a reason given, but on authority - and to substitute one's own rationality and judgment for someone else's. What could be more demeaning?