I don’t think so. People would not die for another if that is all there was. Plus, love is a positive doing thing. I can’t see much source of morality outside of a god who put it in us. Reason alone would dictate the pretense of morality and the actions of immorality.
parsy, who used to agree with you
Mankind is a social animal, and the bond that keeps society together is love. You were wondering about why people love their near and dear ones, as they do. Well, it is that aspect that helped in their success as human beings, in the first place. Love and trust lead to the formation of societies. Our abilities as a species, and as individuals, are multiplied by this advantage of being able to rely on, and share the experiences of, others. The survival and evolutionary advantages offered by this strategy is a reason why mankind is the most successful of all mammalian species, on the planet.
Is this unique to humans alone? Certainly not. Watch these:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ofpYRITtLSg&feature=related
And
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7oVhopPjTNg
How do you know slavery is bad??
You can't say because of God, because not only is slavery not condemned in the Bible, there's a whole chapter on rules on how to obtain and treat slaves.
If a law was passed that required any women who was raped to marry her rapist, I'd assume you like most normal people would find that a "bad thing", to say the least. Why?
Again, that's Deuteronomy 22:28, God's rule, so it can't be because of him.
The same way you can find the above examples (and many others in the Bible) morally wrong even though according to your God they are OK, is this same way Atheist are able to find things morally wrong.
Please explain; expound. (I'll have a follow-up comment)
jla: agrees with parsifal's remarks about trolls (we do need to preach to non-'choir members') but still, after many years, read a parsifal post and think, "huh??"