If atheists feel guilt, it is simply the result of their God given conscience speaking to them. Rejecting God does not dispose of the conscience.
At the most, an atheist can make a logical argument for protective laws based on a herd protection theory. But abiding by those laws themselves would make no logical sense, if they knew they could get away with violating them and achieve personal gain by it.
Any atheist that is ethical is either too dumb to understand their own religion, or they lack the faith of their own convictions.
Nonsense. Human beings are animals, true, but we are animals with a brain that can reason, and that makes all the difference. Civilization is the result, and was only possible because we have developed, through thousands of years of trial and error, an ethical system that allows people to live together without killing each other all the time.
If atheists feel guilt, it is simply the result of their God given conscience speaking to them. Rejecting God does not dispose of the conscience.
Guilt is an empathic response from seeing the suffering of others at our own hand. Some species of ape have been seen to demonstrate empathy too, so perhaps they are God's children too? Believing in God doesn't change the evolutionary origins of empathy or guilt.
At the most, an atheist can make a logical argument for protective laws based on a herd protection theory. But abiding by those laws themselves would make no logical sense, if they knew they could get away with violating them and achieve personal gain by it.
And what difference does believing in God make? David Vitter, Duke Cunningham, Larry Craig, Ted Haggard, Richard Roberts, and on and on ad nauseum... All staunch Christians, by all accounts, and yet they too tried to "get away with it."
While there will always be people who can break laws with impunity, a society can only tolerate so many of them before law and order breaks down and almost everyone suffers. That is patently obvious from even a cursory study of history. Unless you can guarantee to be one of the few who is not affected by a lawless society, then it makes no sense at all to ignore the laws of your society.
Any atheist that is ethical is either too dumb to understand their own religion, or they lack the faith of their own convictions.
Atheists understand their beliefs just fine, but it's obvious that few Christians around here understand the first thing about what atheism entails.
Sure there is. It's a more effective evolutionary strategy. Animals that cooperate and socialize tend to do better than animals that don't.