Maximizing Moral Virtue

[Alan V]

Atheists talk about how good they are without religion but in all honesty I don't see all that much fruit.

I've been talking with atheists for over 15 years now, ever since I became an atheist myself. Generally, I have heard atheists say they are just as good as other people, not better, but that religions tend to make people worse, i.e. more dishonest because religious people pretend they know things they really don't, including what is good or bad.

In my opinion (and observation) atheism just leads to materialism, nihilism and eventually, depression.

Materialism as a philosophical position is much different than acquisitive materialism, so what you said above is an equivocation. And just because the universe was not created by an over-arching intelligence doesn't mean our lives can't be guided by our own intelligence. So neither nihilism nor depression necessarily follow from atheism. From my perspective, atheism leads to honesty and visa versa.

You have no soul, no purpose (beyond the purpose that you create for yourself) and your life ultimately has no meaning as you are just a random cosmic accident. A mere product of natural selection and sexual bias.

My parents would disagree that I was an accident.

We share an evolved human nature which provides our lives with lots of meanings, including social meanings from various relationships. So meanings are not just "made up." They are relative, sure, but they are also objective.

Religious ideas of what atheism entails are highly biased. The typical Christian ideas of how meaning and morality came to be are really forms of mythologizing, like believing God created the earth.