Why 'should' atheists be moral?

[robvalue]

It's interesting to look at empathy as a disadvantage. I think you could make that argument, but it depends what the goal is.

If for some reason someone set themselves the goal of killing 100 people, then empathy would be a disadvantage. So empathy could be seen as a drawback from achieving personal goals or standing within a society. But the goal set is arbitrary, as life has no specific goal. And then it's kind of self selecting, someone who thinks killing is morally wrong is unlikely to set a goal of killing people, so it won't be a disadvantage.

Speaking personally, I do find empathy to be a disadvantage in some situations, within my moral code. For example, I may come across an animal that has been injured, is clearly going to die and is suffering. I would consider the moral thing to do is to end its suffering. But then my empathy can stop me carrying out my moral decision; it kind of misfires. I cannot bring myself to "hurt" the animal, even if I think it's in the animal's best interest. I feel guilty, and that I have been immoral.

Morality is complicated