theemporer said:
The alleged lack of morality is not entirely misplaced, however, as the belief that there is no spiritual power also implies no immortal Moral Law, meaning that, to an atheist, morality has no meaning beyond what they are or are not punished for.
I mean no offence, but I personally can't understand how atheists can be so hypocritical. Atheists often claim that those who are religious are being illogical. Yet, when taking an "objective" viewpoint, atheists assume that religion must be false, without any concrete proof either way.
If you assert the existence of something, the burden of proof is on you, not on the sceptic.
At this point, the discussion usually diverges, as the faithful argue on the philosophical level for the existence of a god, while being unable to prove his existence on a physical level - whereas the materialist (that many atheists are) requires to accept the proposition that a god exists.
The problem here is that one posits the existence of an (omnipotent, omniscient & omnibenevolent) being that is clearly outside the realm of nature, whereas the other requires a natural proof as he refuses that things outside his physical reality have or should have an impact on him.
The discussion can't even agree on the same topic, which makes science & faith not be direct opposites, but very compatible, provided faith takes a step back when science proves something in the natural world. The refusal to accept logic as it pertains to natural facts or the models we build to explain them is ununderstandable for someone firmly rooted in the scientific method; thus the statament that faithful are illogical.
All that said, i refuse your implication that the lack of an immortal moral law means atheists are morally bankrupt. We see intrinsic value in good deeds, and there are humanist and social-evolutionary reasons why "doing good" is worth doing. In contrast, the refusal of an immortal moral law absolves me of having to push it unto someone else who may not share those laws or beliefs, and that is A Good Thing!
That evangelical behaviour of religious people is the root of many evils committed by faithful. The opinion that my, and only my, belief is the One Truth, is one of the most damaging ideas ever known to mankind - regardless of whether it's rooted in faith, though it usually is.
Most churches have their own version of
extra ecclesiam nulla salus - that dogma that my faith is The One True Faith is the cause and justification for all evil done by good men of faith; and that is the true crime of religions against humanity: It makes good people do bad things.
