Indoctrination, brainwashing and just parroting what their authority figures dictate to them.

Here in the UK people don't assume amoral if you tell them you are an atheist - probably because most Brits class themselves as 'no religion' at census which probably explains a lot.

People have been brainwashed, myself included. I was taught the same things from the time i could understand words. I of course believed what my parents taught me. It wasn't until I had a good friend who was atheist that I learned the truth.

People have been brainwashed, myself included. I was taught the same things from the time i could understand words. I of course believed what my parents taught me. It wasn't until I had a good friend who was atheist that I learned the truth.

And, it's tribalism. "US'' versus "THEM"...because "Our god's better than your god''...even if ''your religion is atheism." (How I hate that phrase!)

The religious definition of atheist is "amoral". God's got all the morals and left nothing for me...

The whole myth of the Ten Commandments raises some serious questions. What did the Israelites do before the Commandments came down from God? Were they screwing everybody, killing all their neighbors, stealing their camels, and lying through their teeth? Did they stop doing those things when the Commandments came down? There is a Commandment that says Thou shalt not kill or murder, but Moses came down from the mountain and probably killed off a bunch of people because they were worshipping false gods while he was was gone.

The whole myth of the Ten Commandments raises some serious questions. What did the Israelites do before the Commandments came down from God? Were they screwing everybody, killing all their neighbors, stealing their camels, and lying through their teeth? Did they stop doing those things when the Commandments came down? There is a Commandment that says Thou shalt not kill or murder, but Moses came down from the mountain and probably killed off a bunch of people because they were worshipping false gods while he was was gone.

"Amoral" is an entity to which "morality" doesn't apply (a rock, a cow, etc.). "Immoral" is someone who goes against traditional morality. Both terms are not synonyms. However, morality and ethics has nothing to do with "faith" in supra-natural beings. There are good ("moral" ) religious human beings and "bad" ("immoral" ) religious human beings; and, of course, there are "good" and "bad" atheists. The pope who cried "Deus vult", and those muslims who cry "alahu akbar" were/are deeply religious...and completely immoral!

Anyone that thinks they have the right to legislate and/or pass judgment on morality, is seriously flawed.