Questions for Atheists

I don’t understand atheists.

In the first place, very few atheists call themselves atheists anymore.  There used to be atheists who wore the name proudly -- Ayn Rand and Madelyn Murray O’Hair come to mind.  But today most atheists use words like humanist, freethinker, agnostic.  Why?  I’ve never met a humanist, etc., who wasn’t an atheist.

(Incidentally, many self-described agnostics say they don’t take sides as to whether  God exists, and therefore they’re not atheists.   But they are.  The word “atheist” means “without belief”, so anyone who does not actively believe God exists -- and that includes people who don’t take sides -- is “without belief”.)    

Also, atheists like to say, “In Reason We Trust", which is a rather sarcastic slap at the motto, “In God We Trust.”  They use the phrase as though reason cannot lead to any conclusion other than theirs.  I ask, is that reasonable?  

But the granddaddy of all my questions for atheists, one I’ve asked many atheists and  have yet to hear a reasonable answer, is this:  

If my life ends at death, then ultimately my life is meaningless.  So how can something meaningless have any meaning?  

And if life has no meaning, what would be wrong with with my killing you and taking everything you have.  Or you me?  Or they us?   

And how does one define words like wrong and right and bad and good in terms of life’s having no meaning? 

I should say here that I have nothing against atheists.  Ultimately, atheists and theists alike base their choices on faith.  Nobody knows, so everybody has the right to believe what she or he chooses.   

Still, the questions persist. 

I hope an atheist will answer.

-Skip