The argument from morality is scary.

[Captain Scarlet]

Yes we are all human and getting things wrong is part of that experience but trying to attach or infer a greater propensity to err on every major moral or philosophical on the point of the person being atheist or Theist is becoming a new ism. I agree that trying to use the fact that you believe in God as the sole basis for a conclusion on many of the above topics is a bit lame and of course the unwillingness to listen to the case put against your belief just because the peron making it believes in God is just as lame. being an atheist or Theist does not mean you will be automatically on one side or other. But so often religion becomes the focus of the debate and of course the atheists would blame the Theists but oddly enough most thinking theist of which there are multitudes would contend its a tactic used by the opposition to try to avoid debating the real issues.

Again I think you are constructing a straw man argument of your own and knocking it down. I am happy to debate real issues, but you were musing positively on the practical useful benefits of believing in a theistic moral law giver and I do not accept the implications of that musing. To the extent I am happy to point to facts about theistic absurdities, prejudice etc when it comes to moral matters - which given the supposed access to that perfect moral lawgiver is somewhat surprising. I do not claim atheists nor theists are morally superior to one another in general. However there are some notable theistic inspired moral beliefs which given naturalism are immoral. Atheism inspires no such beliefs.

Do we need to have a thread on whether the only demagogues are Theists and are only operational in the fields of morality or can we just resist the urge to attach negative weasel words to the discussion that don't add anything to your point or the discussion.

I happily stand by the use of the word demagogue. How would you describe people like Ted Haggard, Fred Phelps, Pat Robertson to name just 3? I think your sensitivity to the word is telling. I stand on a naturalistic interpretation and can call these folks out for what they are. No theist can do that as all these demagogues will claim divine revelation and a correct interpretation of scripture and on a supernatural interpretation they cannot be defeated.