Why is it that Christians, in particular, believe that atheists have no moral values? Why is it they think that they are the arbiters of morality in the world? I often see this in my Twitter timeline where a Christian will confront an atheist about the atheists’ morality, while seeming to know nothing about atheism.
Atheists, at least most of us, are aware that Christians believe that Morality comes from their God. Think of it as Trickle-Down Morality.God is moral and believing in him infuses the believer with his moral values.
Where does morality come from? I don’t think its innate but it is a social/cultural construct. As children, we are raised to understand that theft, murder, rape, etc., are not only against the laws of our particular society, but also immoral acts. This of course doesn’t prevent anyone from breaking those laws but it also shows that if morality originates from God, then God’s influence isn’t what he thinks it is.
According to a 2014 survey by Pew Research, 71% of Americans identify as Christian. That number is trending down from their previous poll, so I see this as overall a positive. It says nothing about morality. But that 71% of Americans are Christian should say something.
What it says is that demographically, Christians are politically diverse. Not all Christians are right-wing Republicans. It also shows us that identifying as a Christian doesn’t automatically mean someone actually practices that belief. If it did, then the USA would have the lowest incarceration rate in the western world instead of the highest (We have a lot of stupid laws here, IMO).
It’s annoying to me that those proclaiming their Christian Superiority over atheists won’t do even a modicum of research to prove their point. But then, if we all lived in their world, we wouldn’t have modern medicine, space exploration, jet aircraft, or any of the other benefits of science and engineering.
We’d still believe that the Earth was the center of the universe.
Conservative Skeptic 
You say that you don’t think that morality is innate. Morality, I think, is based on two things, honesty and fairness. We all have an innate feeling of fairness, and we know when we are lying. Mix a bit of humanness into that and we act as morally as we can under the circumstances.
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When I use the word “innate”, I’m referring to something we’re born with. No one is born moral. It’s learned from our parents, culture, society.
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What gets me is that they start by claiming moral superiority and then dismiss any counterexample of a Christian behaving poorly with the “not a real Christian” claim.
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I like that you get my posts although sometimes I’m not as clear as I should be and require “reading between the lines”.
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We have that in common! I bet we all feel that way at times.
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When I first told my wife I was no longer a Christian, I think she was afraid that I was going to go wild. I’ve made a special attempt to be extra kind since then, and it’s changing her perception. Slowly.
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Its interesting the way different people react to someone being an atheist. I am basically the same person I always have been, atheist or not.
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Same here. My politics haven’t changed. Nor has much else, other than my Bible study and prayer habits.
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In my case, if my family and the classmates I grew up with knew that I didn’t believe in God, I would be evil and in league with the devil. It must be that the adverse reactions to non-believers would be from religious people. No one else really cares, do they?
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I understand. I lost a friend recently that I’ve known most of my life due to my atheism. https://consskep.wordpress.com/2018/04/14/lose-your-faith-lose-your-friends/
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Without their little book they don’t see how morality (or any conceptual or physical thing) could exist. God of the gaps.
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For me, “progress” is when people stop believing what they’re told they should belive (religion, politics, etc.), and start thinking for themselves.
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