Dude are you nuts? Ever heard of the Crusades?
Speaking as a Catholic, you don’t want to start throwin’ ideas like that around.
I’m just sayin’.
Hey - I was just kidding Mom! Stop with the holy water already!
While I agree that GD thread was incredibly stupid (and you know me for a die-hard heathen), I don’t think this parody thread is going to have the right effect, Lib.
Why would we?
Because they don’t hear the voice of God telling them to do that stuff.
Well, now you’ve crossed the line from everyday villainy to cartoon supervillainy.
Since I’m an agnostic, I would argue that we do not know whether it is theologically OK to rape and pillage.
And since I’m a pedant, I take issue with your title, Lib…a five-star general in the US is General of the Armies, not of the Army. 
In short, lots of people believe in “right and wrong” even if they don’t believe in God.
I’ve heard theists say, “Well, if there’s no God to say this is right and that is wrong, what makes some actions more moral than others?”
I’d answer even if there is a God, you still have the question “Why did God decide killing is wrong, as opposed to saying ‘Thou shalt not eat bananas on Tuesday?’” That is, whether there’s a God or not, you’re still left with the question “Why are certain things right and certain things wrong?”
Of course, there have been lots of attempts by philosophers to answer that question. But even without being able to explain exactly why a certain action is wrong, lots of people believe that certain actions are wrong. In my experience, this belief in right and wrong is just as prevalent among atheists as anyone else.
That said, the typical atheist’s sense of morality seems to be based pretty much exclusively on ideas like “Be nice to people, be honest, don’t hurt people, etc.” Whereas theists usually have those ideas, plus (depending on the religious denomination) a bunch of random rules about who you can have sex with. Nevertheless, there’s a lot of overlap between the theist’s sense of morality and the atheist’s.
And yeah, I’m obviously displaying my bias in characterizing the whole “Don’t sleep with anyone before you’re married, and God help you if you’re gay” thing as a “bunch of random rules”.
Anyway, getting back to the OP, I’d have to ask: How is it that people really have to ask this? I mean, are you really only not raping and pillaging because you’re worried about God’s vengeance, or is it because deep down you just don’t think it’s the right thing to do? If it’s the latter (as I suspect it is for most theists), then why is it so surprising that atheists might feel the same way?
Because we’re too busy herding cats.
They gave me only one army because I refused to join them in fighting their godless wars.
5-Star General of the Army Liberal
Of all the people I know, the two who are most active in volunteering to help the poor are an atheist and an agnostic.
Their reason seems to be: It makes them sad that these people are suffering, and they feel they ought to be doing something to help.
I would suspect that that’s the same reason most religious people who help the poor do so, when you get right down to it.
Because women don’t fuck dudes who like to stomp on gardens. 
Liberal, I hope you respond to the question in my above posts.
To rephrase:
Does it really not occur to you that atheists behave morally because they just “Think it’s the right thing to do”? And furthermore, do you really think the average theist would be happy to commit rape and murder if God said “I won’t punish you for it this time”?
I think generally the moral atheist and the moral theist are both just trying to do what they think is right, whether they expect there to be consequences or not.
Hey, when an atheist develops schizophrenia, who does he attribute the voice in his head to?
Maybe they have to ‘find religion’ because now they have PROOF that God exists. ;
Becasue with my work schedule these days, I just don’t have time for hobbies.
It’s a rant about fake signatures?
I’m quite surprised that you’re asking such a question, when it has been discussed every other week on this board for years.
Anyway : because I don’t feel like doing that. As a result of my brain wiring (empathy), of my education, of my culture, my personal experiences, etc… I came to have a sense of right and wrong. It doesn’t feel right to steal a toy from a toddler, so I don’t. And if I see someone doing it, I’m pissed off.
Then only, if I’m tasked with explaining why it is wrong, I might begin to rationalize and try and find a sensible, seemingly objective explanation (though the validity of this rationalization will always rest on me having at least some basic level of agreement with the person I’m arguing with about what is right and wrong, or at the very least about what is beneficial and what is not).
Anyway, here you go. It’s about feelings, not about reason, for the most part. And note that it wouldn’t change if I were a believer. If the existence of some bloodthirsty deity was proven to me, it wouldn’t suddenly feel right to throw babies in a furnace to please said deity. It might become sensible to do so, but most certainly not moral. Again, feelings would trump reason.
ETA : I forgot. Fear might also be a reason, of course. I can abstain from doing something I don’t feel is wrong because I’m afraid I might end up in jail or might be shunned by my neighbours.
So what happens when you’re not a Christian, but you’re not an atheist? You guys get to have ALL the fun!
There’s a difference, though. The atheist has no expectation that wrongs will be righted in some afterlife. Which makes a lot of things even more infuriating.
You know, even with my Druidic training I never got around to doing any serious sacrificing. I must be a real disappointment to the imaginary gods of my people.
It’s time to quit being a slacker! Join me as we … well, rape is nasty and I couldn’t bring myself to hurt a child. The non-gods don’t want anyone that I’d be willing to sacrifice. While I like my meat well aged and nearly rare, decayed human flesh is pretty gross. Also, I don’t masterbate whilst eating because if you make one little mistake with a steak knife … well, let’s just leave it at that and praise plastic surgeons. Also sturgeons, for they make tasty caviar.
What was the other thing? Oh, shotguns. It’s because I don’t like scatterguns and prefer the precision of a heavy barreled Remington mdl 700 in .308.