Objective Morals vs. Subjective Morals

"Right" and "wrong" are defined by society and are not "natural" . From our modern, western point of view, lying, stealing and cruelty to children is considered to be wrong. This is enforced by our laws and further reinforced by our standard of living (socio-economic background). We simply aren't born knowing that we're not supposed to lie, steal or harm others, we have to be taught these things either directly or indirectly as we grow up. Young children will often steal from or hurt each other because they haven't yet developed the notion of "right" and "wrong". What I'm saying is that society defines "right" and "wrong", and there are plenty of examples to prove that . You mentioned that cruelty to children being wrong is a moral absolute? Well, in the 18th and 19th centuries, thousands of children worked in factories which were horrible working environments. And unfair child labour is still a massive problem in many parts of the world, especially Asia. If this is "wrong" regardless of anything, then how come it took us over a hundred years to put a stop to it in the West and why is it still going on in other countries? You say that we have moral absolute regardless of culture? Well, I'm going to assume that you believe that murder being wrong is a moral absolute. In plenty of African countries, cannibalism and sacrifice is still practiced to this day. Albinos Africans are often murdered by a mob of people due to their "worth" to voodoo/witch doctors. That is a cultural thing, something that has been practiced by them for hundreds, if not thousands of years. From a western point of view, we look at this and see it as being absolutely awful, yet they look at it and see it as normal because they grew up believing it was normal. We still have plenty of modern examples of how morality is defined by society and culture. Gypsies are considered to be a blight by many Europeans because they are well-renowned to be thieves, con-artists and liars. They have grown up in an environment where stealing from other people is pretty much encouraged, thus they grow up and do the exact same thing and the cycle continues. That's an example of people who seemingly believe that stealing is right. Another major example is gang warfare which is usually rampant in poorer suburbs of big cities. Kids grow up being taught that the rival gang is the enemy and thus killing them starts to become "right" instead of "wrong". There are plenty of other great examples: religious fundamentalists, the Amish and some racial minorities. Many of them believe and behave the way they are due to the society in which they grew up in. I'm definitely going to dispute your second point. Many humans do not "desire" for a God, me being one of them. Polls indicate in many countries that for many people, religion doesn't play a part in their lives. Religion, in my opinion, was originally created so that mankind could hope to explain things that they didn't understand. Later on, it was used as a mean's for control and a basic guideline for how people should live and what they should believe in. Atheism is not a religion. The word itself literally means the lack of a religion or god. That's the only thing in common I have with all other atheists. On the other hand, there are a whole variety of beliefs that Christians or Muslims are supposed to share. There is no guideline or belief system an atheist must have other than the lack of a belief in a god. In conclusion, atheism is not a religion. Also, our morals are decided or influenced by the society and culture we grew up in. Not all humans/cultures share the same belief of what is "right" and "wrong" and this, in my opinion, is enough to debunk the theory of moral objectivity. Not every human is programmed to have the exact same core of basic morals.