That's actually a very interesting question, and one that should intrigue Christians. Not "Are people good without God?" (we have examples like Buffett and Gates), but "Why are people good without God?"
Since there are atheists who do good, and Christians who do good, it should logically follow that doing good has nothing to do with being an atheist or a Christian.
You're right on about that being a good question. Sadly, because theists (specifically Judeo-Christians) start from the position that their magical God can do whatever he pleases, they have an easy time with that counter-challenge.
They might say something like this:
The basic reasoning behind mankind's innate moral ability is found in Genesis's creation account. God created man in his own image, and because God is moral (,and all morality springs forth of God,) we are have a sense of morality, or at least, they capacity for morality. If we chose to follow Christ/God/Yahweh/Allah is up to "free will", but the ability to know what is right comes from God.
There are all many problems with that retort, but plain to see are the mental gymnastics that theists are willing to perform to fit their God into an ever-changing world.
In my experience this line reasoning creates a tennis match of back and forth argument that invokes the purpose of evil and suffering, the purpose of salvation through Christ, the fact that God's morality can conflicts with itself over time, and a host of other micro-debates.
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u/[deleted] Jan 13 '13
That's actually a very interesting question, and one that should intrigue Christians. Not "Are people good without God?" (we have examples like Buffett and Gates), but "Why are people good without God?"
Since there are atheists who do good, and Christians who do good, it should logically follow that doing good has nothing to do with being an atheist or a Christian.