One does not need to believe in "God" to be moral.

Overall, I like your rebuttal; your perspective is interesting and your argument is philosophical. But there are a couple issues I take with your case (because it disagrees with mine ;) ) REBUTTAL: Contention 1: There must be a standard for morality. Since we both agree, then there is no purpose in arguing here. I'd just like to point out that it logically follows from this argument that there is a single standard for morality. Some acts are inherently wrong, and such acts are not evil because they have violated nature's laws, but because they violate God's laws. As agreed by both sides, murder, rape, etc is wrong. This leads me straight into your rebuttal to my second point. Contention 2: God is the standard for morality. Because I have a lot to say here, I will, for clarity's sake, organize my argument into three sub–contentions. a) We are debating the individual. The topic at hand is if "one" can be moral whilst disbelieving in God (defined as the Christian God). We are not debating whether or not nonchristian societies can be moral. This is not central to my case, but I thought it warranted mention. b) Societies mentioned are not moral. I do not mean to sound condescending and I apologize if I do, but there is no connection between a society conquering and a society being moral. The fact that the Roman Empire ruled almost the entirety of the known world whilst disbelieving in God does not prove that the society was moral; it simply proves that the society was powerful. Hitler conquered Poland, most of Czechoslovakia, and assisted Mussolini in his conquests. This does not make him moral; it makes powerful. Further, the Greek citizens lived incredibly immoral lives. Pedophilia ran rampant in Greek society. I'm sure we can both agree that such behavior is not moral. c) Moral standards are not derived from nature. If there is no God; then all that exists is material (would you not agree?) As we agree, morality violates basic killer instincts. The idea that when I want food I can't kill someone for it is not an idea that comes from nature; it has a supernatural source. How, if there is no God, has man inherited a sense of "right and wrong?" 3. No mankind can live a "good" life. a) Morals are absolute We agreed under contention 1 that there must be a standard for morality, and thus one cannot determine ones morals for oneself. Mankind is not immoral because morals vary, but he is immoral because of his nature. b) Man lives in a state of depravity Since we both agree that one's behaviors expose one's beliefs, I'd like to address this part with the presupposition that in order to be moral, one must live in conformity with the moral standard. I would agree with you that lying is justified under some conditions, but that wasn't my point. I'm sorry that I didn't make it clear enough (that's a sincere apology, even though it doesn't sound like it :p) To make this clear, let's look at another vice: adultery. Most people would agree that cheating on one's spouse or girlfriend is wrong (God calls it "sin"). You may, if you have a girlfriend, believe that it would be wrong of you to cheat on her. If you look at a girl and think, "I totally want to hit that," then you have effectively cheated on your girlfriend. In doing so, you have violated your morals. Similarly, if one believes that gossip is wrong, and one participates in gossip, that person has violated their morals. Those who participate in this behavior (which would be just about everyone in the world) are immoral. Christians, even, participate in sinful behavior. My point, to summarize in one sentence, is: violated morality just once makes you immoral, and everyone violates morality. c) Only God can enable one to live morally. This is a new argument, and one that would require a whole new debate (with far more than five rounds) to truly do justice to. Since it has not been brought up in previous rounds, I think it would be most fair if I warned you I will bring it up in the next round so you can prepare yourself :p CONCLUSION: Mankind is immoral because mankind is mankind.