We godless lack that certainty, and we know the world is a complex place that requires compromise and is not ruled by a moral force - virtue is subject to negotiation, and is found in working together with others to find mutually satisfactory solutions. Good is not absolute, it is an emergent property that arises from successful networks of individuals. It is also something that is measured by evidence: we look at the good that people do, not the promises that they make and never keep, or the lies that dovetail nicely into dogma. Competence is a virtue. Intent is meaningless without action.

Silence is an argument in favor of the status quo. A refusal to address an inequity is a strategy for maintaining that inequity.

We live our lives for our life's sake, rather than for illusions about rewards and satisfaction after we're dead.

We are not princes of the earth, we are the descendants of worms, and any nobility must be earned.

Human beings are still fish.

If you've got a religious belief that withers in the face of observations of the natural world, you ought to rethink your beliefs - rethinking the world isn't an option.

religion is to misogyny as disease is to misery - not the sole cause, but a significant contributor