Atheist Physics Teacher

This is pretty interesting, thanks Justin. Given that we generally suck at getting along and have created laws to govern ourselves, I can see the benefit of moral absolutes. It's like a second offensive line to help protect our puny quarterback-Ids from doing something stupid when pass-rushed by our emotions. I conclude:

1. An atheist can be just as ethical / moral as a religious person. It's easy. Just believe in the same things.
2. People who are religious and have moral absolutes will be more resistant to external influence on those beliefs (laws will change over time, ends justifying the means, and so on). It's hard to say whether or not this will be beneficial - it depends on the change/influence.
3. People who lack moral absolutes, obviously, will be more flexible and can change their opinions over time. As mentioned in the article, this can be good or bad, but I personally prefer the freedom. As our society and technology advances, things are going to get VERY tricky - embryo screening for genetic defects, genetic hybrids, cybernetic and genetic modification, energy advancements, etc. Slowly, we're understanding more and more things, and slowly, we're becoming able to control more and more things.

I believe that by itself, a moral grounding based on the Bible isn't equipped to deal with these kinds of issues. It's limited, and simply could not predict how powerful we could become, matched only of course by our ever present foolishness. We will work together to do, hopefully not screw up too badly, and keep moving into the future. See you there.