TheCow said:

Just out of curiosity, where does it say that?

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MokshaIs said:

Then all the mystics and sages shall be stoned!!!

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Amen.         

Paleocon said:

You need to have faith in a Higher Being to justify morality. Why? Because otherwise why choose to be moral?

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Paleocon said:

Veritas said:

Human communities have been establishing rules of conduct throughout human history. These rules vary by culture, and they are revised over time. They are not really open to technical refutation, as they are widely known, and it is fairly simple to point to what is considered moral by a particular culture at a given point in time.

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Again, why should any culture choose to have a morality at all? Why not just choose to define slavery as moral?

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Paleocon said:

No God says murder is wrong no matter what.

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MushmanTheManic said:

(Unless you beat your slave so hard that he loses an eye. Then you must release him.)

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MushroomTrip said:

Treat other the way you want to be treated is merely a reflection of your own fears and frustrations. Very similar to those parents who never got to fulfill their dream and now they're riding their children's ass to make things in such a way that they get to do what their parent never accomplished. So this way they hope for some sort of relief by living their dream through their children. This is so pathetic! And what's more, is that this kind of people (parents) are so delusional and are so full of shit, that they begin to truly believe that they're doing the "right" thing for their children. How fucked up is that?

The same thing goes with those who think that morality really exist, and more to that, that it is sustained by an all mighty god.
In my opinion, only a sorry ass can be so deluded to actually think that they should act with morality, and in the same time (their hidden purpose being) hoping that the others will take notes of their good actions and treat them the same.
Well kid, it doesn't work this way, and life is constantly proving us that what we like others don't and vice versa. Hence one could easily conclude (if determined to reason) that morality is only an illusion, a symbol for our own frustrations and senilities.
Why would anyone empathize with those who feel scared of hell? Who said that this is the way to go?
Will we ever grow the fuck up and stop being so mentally damaged and offended? I think that when all of us will be able to do that, the world will truly be a better place.

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I'm not really following your logic.. It isn't that people will treat me the same if they see I act justly, what a selfish way of looking at it.. I treat others with respect because they didn't do anything to deserve otherwise.

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No, no, no!
Let's review your previous statement and also a part from your new post:

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The reason I'm a highly "moral" atheist, or I'd prefer the term ethical because moral includes nonsense things like blasphemy, is because I treat others the way I would like to be treated.

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If every one in a community acts by the golden rule, then there will be few problems, so we act by that and hope others will also.

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This clearly states a form of needing a guarantee that if you don't harm others, other might consider not harming you too. There's it's black on white, typed by your own hand which was driven by your own ideas.

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Most would not treat a person such as yourself with respect though for having such a selfish view of relations, which is probably why you are confused about how the human relations work.

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Only the unsocialized would choose not to act with values..

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Please define for me "unsocialized".
Too many concepts and ramifications to be able to fully know what you're talking about.
Submitting to a social standard which goes against your own conclusions about life is called hypocrisy and denotes anxiety, not having the honesty to reject that what you feel as being invalid and meaningless.
Making rules for other people to obey them has been proven to fail lamentably. Doesn't it make you wonder? Maybe the entire system in flawed.

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If every one in a community acts by the golden rule, then there will be few problems, so we act by that and hope others will also.

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What world are you living in?
Tell me exactly, with examples, where this method has been showing signs of working?
How do you establish which is the most appropriate golden rule to follow?
There are lots of examples of people who choose not to conform to the social standards and somehow they succeed in being the less harmful to those around them.

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Theres humans drives and emotions, such as guilt, someone taking revenge against you, not being accepted into a community, which can be viewed as acting ethically for selfish reasons.

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I guarantee every person who doesn't care about what they do to others suffers from a type of depression or anxiety problem.

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What do you guarantee with?
What's at stake?

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Again I don't believe in God or an afterlife, but I've learned I'm able to meet my real needs much more effectively by treating others they way I'd like to be treated.

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The key word in this comment is NEEDS.
Needs are selfishness manifested.
The fact that you think that being moral is the right thing to do is because a majority of people share the same form manifestation of selfishness.

Icelander said:

I would suggest that in the future, if you want to keep a meaningful conversation, you will refrain yourself from psychologically analyzing me,

Yes, it's much better to look at those racy pictures of her.

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I didn't know that Dieck  was a she!
That entirely changes the situation.