"The question is: how can you say it? By your definition, hunters are evil, and so are lions and chimps. They do, after all, "initiate force against others."
You obviously have no conception of a rational morality. If you happen to lose your faith, warn us so we can lock you up. You will know of no way to make moral decisions then and will be too dangerous to be let to your own devices.
"One can, however, be "mentally deranged" (i.e., insane) in the manner of Ted Bundy, and still be totally aware of their actions."
I said aware of the consequences of their actions. If you are insane you are by definition unable to make moral choices. Hitler was aware of the consequences of his actions.
I look forward to reading your completely rational and logical proof of morality, presented from an atheist perspective. There's only one catch: you can't make up your own definitions. You must, as Rand herself demanded, use the following rules:
1. Reality exists as an objective absolute—facts are facts, independent of man's feelings, wishes, hopes or fears.2. Reason (the faculty which identifies and integrates the material provided by man's senses) is man's only means of perceiving reality, his only source of knowledge, his only guide to action, and his basic means of survival.
Among the material provided by man's senses is something about which you're very vocal: evolution, natural selection, and survival of the fittest. Your main task is to find some objective, rational, logical way of demonstrating that "initiation of force," which is a major element of natural selection, is somehow not evil in nature, even among members of the same species; but is evil specifically among humans. And remember: everything you say must be logically consistent, and nothing made up.
I said aware of the consequences of their actions. If you are insane you are by definition unable to make moral choices. Hitler was aware of the consequences of his actions.
So was Ted Bundy. See his final interview. He knew what he was doing, and he knew the consequences. But Ted Bundy was also crazy.