By the way, where does God say “Thou shalt not eat thy children”?
We’re supposed to be better than animals because we have a conscience. The guppy doesn’t care if she swallows all her offspring. The baboon doesn’t care if his neighbor starves. We’re supposed to be above that. Why? Why does our conscience matter if there is no soul attached to it that will be made to pay for its wrongs? Why should anyone feel guilt? reply: It is true that we don’t usually think other animals have moral obligations because they don’t have the ability to understand right from wrong or the power to control their behavior. But there is no need to posit a soul in order to understand either conscience or guilt. These are socially and biologically induced. Sociopaths and psychopaths, who behave as your baboon or guppy, are not to be explained by their lack of souls or lack of belief in God (some of them even think they are divine themselves). The answer is more likely social and biochemical than theological. You can argue that an atheist doesn’t commit “wrongs” because he do
