Where do atheists get their morality from?

[greneknight]

Atheists get their morals from the same place you do, from within.

Agreed. Now what decides what is 'within'?

This is so childish. To always assume there is someone to decide what something should be is what we have come to expect of children. If a young child sees water boiling at 100 degrees, he will ask his dad, "Who decides for the water to boil when it reaches 100 degrees, Dad?"

Why do we have morals "within" us? I've read a perfectly good explanation in an article somewhere. It's got to do with our millions of years of evolution. It seems any animal that lives in communities will, after some time, have some codes of conduct. Those who are thoroughly selfish and don't observe rules of altruism will usually perish because other animals won't share their food with it in times of famine. But animals with just the right amount of altruism will be liked by others and so they might get some handouts in times of hunger. These animals pass on their genes to their young whereas the selfish bastards die before they have time to mate. Natural selection in other words ensure that the reasonably altruistic animal survives.

Over time, we develop certain codes of conduct that our animal communities enforce. Animal communities that are all selfish probably didn't survive. As evidence that this is true, altruism has been observed in the primates that live in communities.

After aeons of evolution, we humans develop a strong sense of right and wrong based on these codes because of our community living. That becomes our conscience.

You don't need a bogeyman in the sky to develop this morality within us.