[Dimensio]

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.

[EternalVigilance]

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.

Ah, but every single example you have given me is from a purely selfish viewpoint...which proves my point.

Then there's the matter of human empathy.

If you are counting on human empathy when the chips are down, completely separate from faith in Christ, you are setting yourself up for a huge disappointment. What millions experienced in the Nazi death camps, and in the Soviet gulag, makes the case so very well that apart from Christianity, mankind; and individual men and women; quickly descend into barbarity and the grossest of selfish bestiality.

What you've described isn't atheism, it's sociopathy.

Atheism ends in sociopathy...always has, and always will.

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.

This statement shows that you lack a basic understanding of true Christianity. Christians don't 'love' because of laws that 'forbid' certain actions...they love because they have been changed on the inside, by the risen and living Christ. They are gifted with a new nature that is created in the image of God...who is love. (Don't willfully misunderstand me and think that I'm saying that Christians do this anything close to perfectly; they don't. They are still struggling with their old nature...God's work within them is far from complete while they remain on this earth.)

Read the New Testament book of Romans for a fuller and much more intelligent explanation of this than I am capable of delivering.