A Strictly Atheistic World View Can Not Account For Morality.

"To say that humanity is the ultimate judge is not saying anything. For instance, in one part of the world it may be morally acceptable to murder your wife if she disobeys her husband. In another part of the world that particular act may be unacceptable. But, which view of the issue is right? Who decides it? The point is, that to base what is considered right or wrong off humanity is ridiculous, since humanity can not agree on an absolute, universal view of what is considered moral or immoral." But this accounts for morality... it just doesn't account for my opponents version of morality. Also this really doesn't say why Theism can actually account for universal morals. People disagree on religion. If Morals were universal then the scenario my opponent laid out wouldn't exist. But yet he claimed it does.... So what my opponent is essentially arguing is that Morality doesn't work. "In an Atheistic world there are no absolutes for morals." Ok... Same thing in a Theist world. But lets look at the topic for a moment shall we? It never says Atheism needs to account for universal morals, just morals. This really doesn't attack my case at all. The Definition of Morality my opponent gives is "conformity to the rules of right conduct" But it never says these rules must be universal. If we have laws they do not hold everyone accountable worldwide, likewise morality doesn't have to be universal. "Again, because morality is totally arbitrary under the jurisdiction of humanity, since all humans have different standards of morals." That is how I argue we can account for morality. If we want to find acceptable morality we need people to disagree, this is how democracy works and how morality would inevitable work. And yet again, Theism is different how? "Also, if there are seven hundred billion people on the planet and half say gay marriage is right but the other half say gay marriage is wrong, then who decides? What makes one view right and the other wrong? This question can not be answered in an Atheistic universe, since all the opinions given by the people are different. So, humanity, can not, on it's own make a rational decision, dealing with morality." Oh yeah... and God is doing so much better? The reason so many people disagree is primarily religion...granted there are other factors but religion and tradition are massive players. "So, humanity, can not, on it's own make a rational decision, dealing with morality" Well actually we live in a largely theist world... so what you meant to say was " So, God and religion cannot make a rational decision dealing with morality" "This is why there must be an objective standard for people to base their judgement off of" yeah, its called survival mate.... people see other and judge themselves... People tell others that a certain action is wrong because they don't want what they see done to other done to themselves... "You need to tell me why murder is wrong in the first place." Its wrong because people say its wrong... you essentially made my argument for me there; "its immoral to murder because you will get murdered back" it isn't moral to Murder because you are ending that persons existence. I don't want to end my existence so I tell people that it is wrong to kill. If I wanted to be killed would I say it is wrong to kill? "You see, Atheists take morals from the Christian world view but do not acknowledge the basis of which those morals came from, which is ultimately God" Um... Alright... The First appearance of the golden rule was I believe in the Analects of Confucious... Not the bible. Also it really doesn't matter where the Morals came from as long as an Atheist world can account for them... I personally have a justification for all my moral opinions that has nothing to do with god but with how I perceive humans. "Metz said, "Also if we look to the roots of morality we don't find God, but humanity." Prove to me that we find humanity, don't just say it, prove it or at least tell expand on that reasoning." That I will be glad to do.... Name any generally accepted moral principle and I will show how it can be traced back to humanity. Also my opponent again makes the mistake of saying Atheism cannot account for UNIVERSAL MORALS, but sadly neither can Thiesm as we have seen and that is not the subject of this debate. Lets do an example of morality being human using the Moral principle that killing is wrong. 1. Humans don't want to be killed 2. People, as a general rule, want to do what they feel is right. 3. Therefore people(in general), because they don't want to be killed, have said that killing is wrong 4. Therefore it is generally accepted among people killing is wrong 5. Hence killing is considered an Immoral Act. Justification behind 1-5. 1. The Urge for Survival in all things is primary, it has been seen through the existence of life 2. The concept of the conscious tells us that we want to do the right thing. So people are deterred by the idea that what they may be doing is wrong. 3. Combination of 1&2 plus the fact that people made this decree to create the deterrence I mentioned in 2 4. A summary of 4 as a general rule 5. Putting the concept of right/wrong into Morals Thank you, Matt Good luck to my opponent, and I urge everyone to look critically at all arguments