How can an atheist claim to have morals, other than by stealing morals from other sources such as the Bible, or the law of the state or nation in which they live?
For that matter, there is no way to know what every individual's morals are or where they come from, so how do we know that an atheist has morals to begin with just because they say they do?
We all have morals as we all have some sort of idea of how people should act, but where do they come from?
Here is how I view morality to be formed
1. We all have a conscience. At our core, we all have a basic sense of right and wrong, or on some level acknowledge the Golden Rule which is to do unto others as you would have done to you.
2. In addition, we are heavily influenced by the morality of those in authority over us, i.e., those we respect in authority over us.
But why then does everyone violate the Golden Rule at some point if it is innately given? That is for speculation, but we have all experienced guilt for knowing we were doing something bad to someone.
But history proves that such things as laws heavily influence morality. For example, when slavery was legal in the US, the consensus was that is was not ideal, but it was Ok, nothing to get that upset over. However, after it was made illegal for over a century, the idea of legalized slavery seems absurd and evil.
The same can be said of abortion. Before abortion was made legal, the general consensus was that it was immoral and wrong. But decades after it was made legal, it is now viewed as not being ideal, but Ok, just like how slavery was viewed in the 1800's before being made illegal.
And that my friends is proof that people are lemmings, or as the Bible puts it, sheeple.
