[PatrickHenry]

Why [does Piltdown_Woman, an atheist, consider all life to be infinitely precious and worth preserving]? Answer: because you grew up in a Christian culture and were exposed to Christian values, which you have recognized as good.

Not necessarily It's precisely because we grew up that way that it's difficult to imagine any other perspective. But consider the classical Greeks and Romans, with their pagan gods. Surely they valued their lives. As did people in other traditions before them. I think it's inherent in our being alive that we value our lives, unless we're involved in some kind of death-cult which teaches something contrary. So it's quite understandable to me that an atheist would consider his life as valuable to him as your life is to you. Maybe even more valuable, because of its brevity.

[Aracelis]

Thank you, PH...and you are quite correct. It is because of life's brevity that I consider all life to be so very precious.

[Tribune7]

But consider the classical Greeks and Romans, with their pagan gods. Surely they valued their lives

Well, yes, but they didn't value anybody else's, emotional connections aside.