Religion "Any objective attended to or pursued with zeal or conscientious devotion". Because one acknowledges God and His morals Does not mean one is devoted to Him. Do you not see the moral standard in the 10 Commandments, if not what are you going to base your moral standards on? By the way atheism IS a religion!
A-theism - not theist. Anti-theism - against theism. Get them right.
I don't see a moral standard in the 10 commandments. Let's go one by one (I'll use the 10 commandments as I learned them; one thing you should know - there are different "10 commandments" depending on your particular christianity)... These are paraphrased to save typing:
"No other gods"
This is entirely incompatible with freedom of religion. Using it as a moral standard to guide social or political policy would mean dictating a state religion and a state god. It's fundamentally incompatible with both the wording of and the meaning behind the first amendment's protection of religious freedom.
"No idols"
Same as #1. Incompatible with religions that have idols.
"No taking the christian god's name in vain"
Incompatible with free speech.
"Don't work on the sabbath, keep it holy"
Depends when you define the seventh day, but still... Still, incompatible with freedom of religious practice. Not to mention it's anti-capitalist. You're not working 1/7th of the week? Great, a market for me to exploit. What are you, a communist?
"Honor your father & mother"
What if they're not christian and you are? What if they sold you into slavery? There's nothing inherently moral about stating you must honor people just because they bred.
"Don't murder"
Sweet, this one's a good one. We're at number six, though, and still haven't found anything unique to the 10 commandments that shows them to be a source of morality. Not murdering is a human thing, not a religious one.
"Don't commit adultery"
Mixed reaction, depends on how you define "adultery". Still, what a person does in their bedroom (or their neighbor's bedroom...) shouldn't be the purview of the states.
"Don't steal"
Another good one, hey, that's 1/5 so far that are good! Not uniquely religious, though... I thought us atheists were supposed to be immoral...
"Don't bear false witness"
Not purjuring is a good social standard. Still not religious, but a good thing. That's 1/3 of of the 10 we've seen so far...
"Don't covet"
Well, shiat... Guess we should get rid of capitalism entirely. I mean, isn't that the process of saying "I can make myself better by working for it"? And what drives that process, but the idea that material goods that others have or have shown you are worth acquiring?
So seriously, before you go on a "10 commandments" rant, take a look at them and compare them to the constitution and society you claim to wish to see. Do you want a communistic community of one religious persuasion, where offenders are punished for differing beliefs? Really?
I base my moral standards on the impact of my actions if applied to me by another and the idea of what happens if my actions were done by the whole. It's almost Kantian (yes, I know he was a Christian philosopher) "universal maxim" view, but with a bit of Benthanism (increase maximum utility of any policy I support) and a fair amount of libertarian views (we could support different things, try to only "force" those that increase maximum utility of things that we mutually agree upon).
Morals are relative to time and place. You likely would consider me a mostly-moral person (I say mostly because of my atheism, abstract religious views you'd likely call me fully moral), yet I'm an atheist. The reason for those morals has nothing to do with me sharing your religious viewpoints, but because I share a lot of sociopolitical vies on how to approach political policy.
