Are Atheists Always Wrong?

In a recent opinion piece in USA Today, Jerry Coyne, professor of ecology and evolution at the University of Chicago and avowed atheist asked the question, "Can atheists be good and moral people"? You can read the full piece here.

A Christian doesn't have to renounce his faith to answer with a hearty "yes they can". While I can only offer anecdotal evidence I don't live in a religious cocoon, I have dear friends and long time acquaintances that either worship other faiths or don't believe in God at all but share a moral code of behavior no different than mine. I remember telling a friend one day, "Man, the way you live and the things you believe you might as well BE a Christian, why not just take the final step and ask Jesus into your life?" Sadly his answer was no.

Where I differ with Professor Coyne was his assertion that secular moralism is inherently better than God inspired morality. Of course he cherry picked scripture to make his point,  "Was God being moral when, after some children made fun of the prophet Elisha's bald head, he made bears rip 42 of them to pieces (2 Kings 2:23-24)? Even in the New Testament, Jesus preaches principles of questionable morality, barring heaven to the wealthy (Matthew 19:24), approving the beating of slaves (Luke 12:47-48), and damning sinners to the torments of hell (Mark 9:47-48). Similar sentiments appear in the Quran. This isn't just philosophical rumination, because God — at least the God of Christians and Jews — repeatedly sanctioned or ordered immoral acts in the Old Testament. These include slavery (Leviticus 25:44-46), genocide (Deuteronomy 7:1-2; 20:16-18), the slaying of adulterers and homosexuals, and the stoning of non-virgin brides (Leviticus 20:10, 20:13, Deuteronomy 22:20-21)."

And yet we do that too, I could point out the real evil perpetrated by atheists on their fellow man, witness Russia during the revolution or Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge to name just a couple. But I would hardly care to dispute Professor Coyne's irritation at Christians who stupidly claim that atheists cannot possess a moral code of conduct because they don't believe in God. After all, aren't you glad salvation is not about good works? And therein lies the sad truth for atheists. As Christians we have much more than a moral code for living, we have the assurance of eternal life and the presence of the Holy Spirit here on earth.