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Are you trying to argue that God exists because the consequences of a God not existing are undesirable (argument from the consequences/argument from wishful thinking), or are you just trying to cloud the issue with a red herring?

Far be it from me to desire cloudiness on these most critical of issues...individual salvation and the effects on society and history of abandoning the True God for false gods, either individually or as a nation.

Why is what I said a mystery to you?

But of course that is not what I believe. I believe what Christian Americans have believed all along:

That all men are created equal, and are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights...and that among these are the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness...

If there is no transcendent God, then there is no possible reason for me to care one whit about anybody but myself...I am god. The death of anybody but me is irrelevent. The suffering of anybody but myself is not my affair. In fact, it would probably be good to get a whole bunch of folks out of the way, so there is more treasure for me to enjoy in this brief period before I too die and advance on into....nothing.

That's quite a leap in reasoning. I have a number of reasons for caring about persons other than myself. I have an inherent survival advantage if I choose to collaborate with others rather than running off and only concerning myself with my own interests. Trying create suffering for others could have negative consequences in those "others" banding together (under the common interest of alleviating suffering of themselves) and stopping me.

Then there's the matter of human empathy.

What you've described isn't atheism, it's sociopathy. I'd be more comfortable with someone without a belief in any gods than someone whom I knew was only restrained from torturing or killing me because of a belief in a diety who forbids it.