>>>Personally, I think people who claim there is no god have reached that conclusion so they can have no rules. If there is no God, then who can say what is right or wrong? Hedonism rules the day for those.
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>>Come on John, now you're really stretching. I have a lot of rules that hem in my morality and the way I live my life. I try very hard to live my life according to the so called 'golden rule', but it's not because of any God. It's because of an innate sense of empathy that was built into me by the way I was raised. I know what pain feels like, so I cannot inflict it on others. Empathy/Sympathy is the great conscience guard. Those who kill, mug, rape, steal, etc do it because they have no feelings for other people, only for themselves. Not to mention that many of them do believe in God. I was raised to have feelings for the feelings of others, and that's how I try to live.
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>>How dare you tell me I don't believe in God just so I can have no rules and no sense of right and wrong. I've never heard such nonsense.
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>Well, it's just an opinion, isn't it. And it just so happens to be mine. Do you think morality can be legislated?

Absolutely not. I think behaviour can be legislated, but not morality. Morality is an internal thing. If one behaves toward others in a way that is socially acceptable out of a sense of decency (understanding right from wrong), then that person is probably a moral person. If one behaves that way out of fear of the law (even God's law), and not out of an innate decency, then that is nothing more than a self-preserving sort of pragmatism that has no real basis in morality. Acting out of fear of retribution without any real feeling for right and wrong is not morality. This is probably the main reason why civilized societies need laws. There are many out there who will act properly out of fear of the law who would not be so reticent if there were no such law. Unfortunately, there are still those who have no such innate decency who also care nothing for the law. And if you check, I'm sure you'll find both believers and non-believers amongst that group.