[andyfox]

"surely most atheists cannot believe in an absolute and objective morality??"

Why not? What is morality other than doing the right thing because it's the right thing to do? What would believing in God or a god have to do with that?

Doesn't it make more sense to say that Christians don't believe in an absolute and objective morality? Because they need the concept of hell, a never-ending punishment for their sins, to force them to act in a moral way. They're trying to please God so that they get to go to heaven instead of to hell. I'd rather have somebody do the right thing because they thought it was a good thing to do than because they fear punishment in the hereafter. Because when temptation comes up, they might doubt that there really is a hereafter and be susceptible to foregetting their morality.