Atheism Cannot Rationally Explain Morals.

""Hence today I believe that I am acting in accordance with the will of the Almighty Creator: by defending myself against the Jew, I am fighting for the work of the Lord."--Adolf Hitler, "Mein Kampf"Want to try that one again?

Then you should read up on Euthyphro's Dilemma that was discussed by Socrates. He asked whether something was pious because the gods commanded it, or if the gods commanded it because it was pious.Euthyphro: Summary | SparkNotesThe problem with "it is moral because God says so" is that it is entirely arbitrary, especially when you consider what other gods find moral which can be contradictory to what other gods find moral. What you are calling for is obedience to the commands of a deity as written by men. That isn't morality.

Then, by your own terms, your God derived absolute morality is unfounded and dispensable.My point is that non-absolute subjective, non-God,derived morality is, if anything, more rational and able to be explained than that which you are proposing. We can compare the religiosity of different societies and the respective crime rates and violent crime rates in those societies. I am not sure why you are saying we can't? Not really. I am saying that subjective moral tendencies have their roots in genetic propagation. There are plenty of evolutionary explanations for altruism and self-sacrifice. You just need to learn about them.Kinship theory, non-zero sum game theory etc. I suggest the books of Robert Wright as an introduction to such ideas. Define "need" in this context....?The idea that humans "need" to survive and that there will be a tendency towards moral imperatives that aid human survival (previous caveats implicit) is not the same thing.As for the "need" for morality - Well, in evolutionary terms anything that enhances survival (more accurately gene propagation) will flourish. I am not sure of which part of that you are disagreeing with?

... or beneficial to society, as well, I would say. Consider Hitler, who believed murdering 6 million Jews would offer a direct benefit to society.
Also consider the Khmer Rouge, who believed murdering 5 million Cambodians would offer a direct benefit to society. Then there's ISIS, who thinking slaughtering infidels offers a direct benefit to society.Morality can be whatever you want it to be.

Why do think preservation of the group is important?

Individuals and groups frequently attempt to devise their own ideas about how lives should be lived. Your religion is one of these groupings. Morally good ideas are often hi-jacked by morally corrupt people, Christianity has seen this several times, communism is another example. Hitler may or may not have been a 'true' beliving Christian, but he used some of the of Christianity and corrupted them to justify his actions. Pol Pot was just a psychopath.The point is though, that these malignancies have eventually been overturned by more beneficial ways of living together. Immoral societies harm people and eventually collapse.By picking out a few moral aberrations perpetrated by genocidal mass murderers, you ignore the general trends of increasing moral behavious across the history of our civilisation.So, show us your objective morality.

ISIS believes they are following the commands of God, which by your book makes their actions moral.

So answer the question: Was Hitler absolutely wrong? And were the Allies absolutely right to kill millions of Germans in return?

Actually, there's an interesting question there. Are such people immoral or merely ill-informed?Perhaps you have read the great popular Christian apologist C.S. Lewis --- if not, you should. Here's what he had to say about witch-hunts: No similarly one might argue --- I am not saying this is certain, but it is something to think about --- one might argue that Hitler was simply wrong about a matter of fact: Jews are not what Hitler thought they were.I would argue that he was still culpable, but when you think about it in this light the question does at least become more subtle.

It is for the group.Enjoy

So which religion did Hitler follow?

You seem to have repeated yourself. Can you elaborate, please? Why is survival of the group important?

Generally, being dead is considered to be bad for things.

Do human beings need to survive, individually or collectively?

Of course not. They want to survive.