Can objective morality exist in Atheism?

[tavarish]

The golden rule, although objective, does not apply solely to morality.

This golden rule, when applied to morality, is subjective,

Ok, so the golden rule is objective or is it not?? (we are not concerned with what else it applies to) It applies to morality?

this would be much easier if you could answer with a simple yes or no.

I think I wrote it pretty clearly. The golden rule, as an evolutionary mechanism, in its truest sense, is objective.

YES.

The only thing that's subjective is when the concept of morality is tacked onto it. Then it has to do more with social ideologies and coexistence rather than ultimate survivability.

Golden Rule = objective.
Morality based on the golden rule = subjective.

understand?

No, I don't understand, on the one hand you say it is objective, then with the other you turn right around and say it is not.

I'll give you an example.

The golden rule is objective as a survival tool, this is its most basic form. All species want to stay living and don't make it a habit of killing each other without reason. They want to be able to have kids, therefore they communicate with others in such a manner that they don't establish themselves as a threat, so their seed lives on. Surviving and procreating is instinctive, an objective value.

Morality is subjective. It is based on the tenets of the Golden Rule, but its execution is heavily dependent on the society around it.

Let's say, for the sake of argument, one society, based on the golden rule, feels that it's moral for the daughters of that society to wed at 12 years old. No one in the society has issue with this and they wouldn't mind wedding off their daughters at 12.

Another society views this as strictly immoral and they feel the age of wedding should be determined by the maturity of the woman at a later stage in life. They would not want their daughters to wed at 12, therefore they don't deem it morally just.

Both societies are using the golden rule, but their morals contrast sharply. All morals work off this very basic principle, but it is important to understand that there is no objective moral standard.

An objective moral standard being a moral that everyone, regardless of society or region can accept as true. The Golden rule is NOT a moral in itself, but rather a principle to guide societies to their various moral ideologies.