1. You can't be moral without God!

Comment #81339 by Andy S on October 24, 2007 at 3:47 pm

Forgive me if this is a little simplistic.

I would avoid using Hitchins' mount sinai example, humorous though it is, as it would be viewed as irrelevant by many Christians who (justifiably from a literal reading of the bible) believe that morality was instilled in us all by God from the beginning.

A couple of points...

Some morals seem almost universal; murder, rape, theft.
However these morals are often only applicable within a group, and form a bare minimum for survival in a highly competitive world.

A pride of lions, it seems, has every reason to be proud. Despite being deprived the gift of free will and innate morality they do an awfully good job of not eating each other, and even (if sometimes reluctantly) share food. Of course the analogy ends when one pride attacks another over territory, as you'd never catch a troop of humans performing such an abhorrent act.

Damage to the prefrontal cortex has been shown to alter moral decision making, suggesting a physical source of core morality.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/21/health/21cnd-brain.html?hp