Wow, there are so many topics that have been opened up for discussion in this one thread it is almost impossible to know where to start.
Firstly, before I begin you should all know that I am an atheist. In response to the many people who are saying that we atheists have just as much faith as religious people, I would have to disagree. While nobody can be sure of anything, I think it is fair to say that, from what we have seen of the world, as well as the many theories that science has created that have held true, science provides a much simpler and more sensicle explination for existence than religion. Additionally, from what I have seen of the many faiths, religion offers little proof that god/gods exist. Why would you have faith in something so complex when there is a much more feasible explination. Ockham's Razor anyone? My feelings have always been that, besides the ingraining of these beliefs from childhood onward, the primary causes of religion are the need for some security in the uncertainty of death, or as a means of explaining things that seem to incomprehensible to explain with science. Much like the original religions sought to explain the magic of fire, winds, etc with various gods and spirits, modern religions seek to answer philosophical questions like, "why are we here" etcetera.
Anyway, before I follow that tangent too far, I would like to address the question of morality. I must admit that I follow the sterotypical atheist viewpoint that there is no such thing as objective morality and value. The "guilt" that people feel after preforming an "evil" deed stems from two things. The first is social programming--the idea that the act is wrong has been fed to the person since birth and they have been programmed to feel "badly" for doing such a deed.
(I would also add that adulters feel bad for betraying their loved one because of a subconscious desire to hold onto any relationship that would trigger the release of the endorphine phenolythalomine (sp?), the chemical that causes the feeling of love. This is an evolutionary condition brought on by the success of organisms that could form emotional bonds with care-givers (both in the physical sense and in the emotional sense (ie intellectual stimulation etc etc that improves one's ability to succeed socially). If a relationship is open (ie both partners agree to allow sex with others.) then the guilt is not felt. Not because you are not betraying the trust of your partner and commiting an evil deed, but because the sense of danger is no longer present.)
I believe that without god/gods, no morality exists except for the concept of morality that we create in our own minds. I would also add that I am not a "bad" person because of this. Rather the contrary actually. By seeing the frivolity of cultural objectifications/valuations, one can overcome the idea that "this is worth more than that" etc and begin to see things as equal (including people). In fact, many prejudices (in America particulary those based on gender or sexual preference) are directly connected to religion (predominatly Christianity, if I might add). If people would stop weighing things on "good" and "evil" and more on sense, risk, consequence, etc then we can still live together. Just because I don't believe in morality does not mean that I do not understand laws against murder--civilization would not survive if it was permitted (assuming you want to live in a civilization, if you do not, more power to you
).
Anyway, that is basically why I do not beleive morality is a justifiable argument for the existence of a higher power. As for the first topic, it is apparent to me from many of the discussions about a topic as simple as entropy and enthalpy that it is not worth getting into a scientific debate with many of you (no offense, but it seems a few of the forum members should skim through a high school chemistry textbook
). If any of you are actually interested in why the creation of the universe ex nihilo is not quite as mysterious as it has been in the past, I would suggest looking into recent discoveries in the field of quantum physics.