The difference between ethical atheism and nihlism is that ethical atheists have more faith

[Esquilax]

How certain are you of this? What is your evidence? Do you know that if you are wrong you have told the most horrible lie in history?

Hi, I'm standing right here.

No, seriously. I had no religious instruction growing up, at least from a moral standpoint, and I turned out okay. My parents simply taught me what was right and wrong based on the effects my actions have and a rational consideration of how I want those actions to come off.

Hell, my dad wasn't even the best example of that morality, and I turned out just fine. I'm happy and healthy, I have a nice job and a great fiancee, I know exactly what I want to do with my life, and I use parts of that to help others. I do all this without a religious motivation instilled in me as a child, and so do plenty of other people too. There's your proof.

What if actually there is a right way to live. Do you know that you could ruin a child for the rest of their life? Really, what you are saying is far, far worst than molesting children. If you molest a child, it is a horrible thing, and they could get over it. But if you convince a children there is no right way to live, you are setting them up for a lifetime of sin and in the end they will go to hell.

As angry as I am at you for all that crap you just spewed about molesting children and the absurd minimization of the pain that causes for your own gain, I'll point out that you still have yet to prove that there's any god, let alone yours. And that you'd be wrong anyway: if you want to talk about sheer numbers, the prisons-at least in the US- are filled with proportionally more christian and religious people, and proportionally less atheists.

... So, if anything, the secret to a moral life seems to sit with atheists, who are willing to take their moral stances based on rational thought.