re: I want to hear from the Agnostics. What will the secular world eventually evolve into?

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If a serial killer murders a stranger, science says that's just one group of atoms rearranging another. Nothing more.

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Probably the dumbest thing I’ve ever read.

Scientists are well aware that that group of atoms is capable of thought and emotions, and therefore should be treated kindly. Science involves a lot more than atoms. Doesn’t psychology fall under the umbrella of science?

Atheists don’t just think “scientifically” you fricking idiot. They’re fully capable of feeling affection, empathy, appreciating beauty in art and nature, and they do all of that without your stupid arse Bible.

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It seems ironic that tolerance seems to be waning just the notion of absolute truth has become an anachronism.

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I'd say it was inevitable. But, be clear, the waxing intolerance you reference is mostly directed towards those whose believe there are absolute truths that are neither archaic nor anachronistic, but are simply ancient. Almost any faddish, unnatural, or pseudoscientific nonsense is welcomed with open tolerant arms. The fragmentation of human sexuality is a current example. The ancient foundational truth that's been ignored, eroded and bent goes something like this-"male and female created He them."

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And what about how man deals with his own mortality? Will we see greater and greater hedonism? Will the super rich seriously begin to pursue immortality through science? Will those who truly believe in overpopulation feel free to reduce the head count by any means necessary?

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Interestingly, C.S. Lewis took up some of these very issues in 1943 in his Space Trilogy, particularly in the first and third volumes, Out Of The Silent Planet, and That Hideous Strength respectively.

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To me, as a Christian, it seems that secularism is unmasking the true diabolical instincts of man.

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If atheistic secularism is displacing Christianity as the dominant worldview it is removing the most effective restraint on those diabolical impulses and the most powerful instrument to change them at their core. Only Christ can reanimate a fallen, broken, dead human soul and restore it to full fellowship with its Maker.

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I confess to periodic episodes of real doubt.

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Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong.
1 Corinthians 16:13

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They’re fully capable of feeling affection, empathy, appreciating beauty in art and nature

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Where do these things you mentioned come from? Science doesn't answer that. Philosophy does, though. And if atheists were consistent, they would ultimately come to the same conclusion: atheism is ultimately materialistic.

But that's a hard pill to swallow for many. So what most atheists end up doing is twisting logic into an assumption of all things necessary to refute Christianity that, ironically, only make sense within a theistic or Christian worldview to try to argue against it (the guy ranting about the immorality of slavery in this thread is a good example - he assumes morals and absolutes in an effort to disprove morals and absolutes because religion bad).

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they do all of that without your stupid arse Bible.

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No one is trying to force Christianity on you. But if I can make you see the flaw in your worldview, then I've done my job as an apologist.

Why? They are a blip in history, a cult of materialism. Call Matt Dillahunty and ask him what it would take for him to believe in a God. He will tell you that nothing can convince him. He’s lost.

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Where do these things you mentioned come from?

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where does morality come from? Morality was always a benefit to the herd from the first nomadic people.

Morality was selected by evolution in our human ancestors in order to promote cooperation and smooth social interactions.

If I kill fred with a stone, fred can't help the group kill an animal and survive.

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How do we know murder is wrong?

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This is silly, fwiw. We know murder is wrong because of empathy that is origin to our species.

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We know murder is wrong because of empathy that is ornate to our species.

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Yes. The opulent, magnificence of our empathy.

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ornate to our species.

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Morality was always a benefit to the herd from the first nomadic people.

Morality was selected by evolution in our human ancestors in order to promote cooperation and smooth social interactions.

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Your claim asserts that morality is simply a set of chemical reactions designed to pass on our genetic code. The only logical conclusion from this is that morality is not real, but imagined and thus relative. Go back to my previous post where I said atheism is ultimately materialism. You're proving my point.

If we can't trust our belief-forming faculties to tell us the truth about morality, why should we trust them to tell us the truth about anything, including science? If our cognitive faculties only tell us what we need to survive, not what is true, why trust them about anything at all?

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our moral instincts and values don’t come from somewhere outside of humanity. The origins of morality lie inside human beings. Morality is a product of our biological and cultural evolution.

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I'll say it a little louder for the people in the back:

Your claim asserts that morality is simply a set of chemical reactions designed to pass on our genetic code. The only logical conclusion from this is that morality is not real, but imagined and thus relative. Go back to my previous post where I said atheism is ultimately materialism. You're proving my point.

If we can't trust our belief-forming faculties to tell us the truth about morality, why should we trust them to tell us the truth about anything, including science? If our cognitive faculties only tell us what we need to survive, not what is true, why trust them about anything at all?