Christian Morals?

Apologist: Christians have morals, while atheists do not. Why don't atheists go around raping and murdering all the time?

My experience with atheists is that they are very moral people who are concerned about right and wrong. They certainly never claim that there is nothing wrong with immoral actions. The exact definition of what is and is not moral is slightly different (eating pork, wearing mixed fabrics, for instance) however EVERY atheist I know agrees (strongly) that murder, rape, theivery, and lying are wrong. There is no sense that there is nothing wrong with these things, and i have never heard discussions about them being OK because atheists are not Christian.

On the other hand, I see a LOT of Christians make the false claim that atheist feel they have no morals. It is just part of the Christian smear campaign. (Atheists have a smear campaign as well, but being a smaller population it is less successful.)

Natural Morals

Apologist: Which worldview better explains the fact that humans are a moral species? Naturalism is bereft of a mechanism to explain even consciousness (as T. Nagel has written) let alone morality

We agree that people are born with an innate sense of right and wrong. We see also that all social animals have innate morals: dogs have behaviors to get along with each other and certain behaviors OK, others not. Morality for dogs might be different than those of humans. Cats, lions, prairie dogs, dolphins, monkeys, bonobos, apes, horses, cows and other herd animals all have inate senses of morals. Innate morals make a species survive. In humans, as well as some others, much is learned from parents.

Like all things that evolved, the discriminator is whether it helps an individual to survive. Animals that live together in groups clearly find benefit from that. Animals that failed to get along died out long ago. What we are left with are animals that have the ability to behave in a moral manner.

It is most certainly not true that "Naturalism is bereft" of a mechanism (even if Nagel concluded that). You certainly must be aware of Hobbes, and Bentham, and many others. I will attach one I am involved with. However, once again, the biggest voice on this is Christians who make loud claims that naturalism has no explanation for morals and that tends to lead people to conclude it is true.

Theist Moral Source

Apologist: Theism has an adequate explanation for human morality. Christian theism in particular can draw upon both the Jewish teaching that all men (and women) are created in God’s (moral) image, as well as Paul’s teaching in Romans 1 to explain human morality irrespective of belief in God.

Theists explain the presence of morals by saying "God made them" to the extent that that actually counts as an explanation.

Which view explain morals best? Saying something is created by God is not really an explanation so much as a reason to stop looking for an explanation. I personally find the evolutionary psychology explanation quite a bit more adequate. https://meta.purplehillsbooks.com/.../a-foundation-for.../

Apologetic Misrepresentation

Apologist: Atheists don't have any morals because morals come from God

Unfortunately, contemporary (and some classic) apologetics is willfully ignorant about secular ethics or lies about it to sell books and programs. They've poisoned whole generations of believers into ignoring the history of moral philosophy to know the breadth and depth of thought on where atheists can and do get their morals.

Lying by Omission - they lie by hiding the rich and diverse history of moral philosophy the world over. They often cite improper authorities--non moral philosophers or those without training in moral philosophy, both philosophical and historical--to prop up as the only option for secularists. We mostly see Nietzche or Michael Ruse quote mined for this purpose.

Consider Jeremy Bentham whose considerable works outline the theory of consequentialism. Immanuel Kant built a system of morals based on logic, and not from God in the Christian sense. Bertrand Russell wrote the "Elements of Ethics" in 1910. The extensive works of G.E. Moore like "Principia Ethica" in 1903 and several other works on morality.

** Direct lie** - they sometimes claim that there just are no secular moral theories. They are then stu.ped or surprised to even learn about the big theorists, such as Kant, Mill, Hume, Hutchison, Price, Ross, Moore, Reid, etc., and those are just from the 1700s to today and def not exhaustive.

Apologist: Secular morality is build on humanity studies which is like its own religion for atheist and agnostics

Agnostics will often make wild claims about atheist morality and their audience never questions this.