No God = No Sin = No Guilt

If there is no God, can there be sin? If there is no sin, can there be punishment or guilt?

In terms of morality, it seems that many people lately are denying God because they are trying to escape punishment or guilt. We are all born with an inate knowledge of right and wrong. As we grow up an the world skews our knowledge of right and wrong, we begin to desire the things of the world. At first, we feel guilty about indulging because we know it is wrong, but guilt is a negative emotion.

In order to continue doing things which seem pleasureable, but avoid the negative emotion of guilt, we start to rationalize. "Oh, I'm not hurting anyone". "Everyone is doing it". The rationalization quickly takes over and we begin to be able to tell ourselves whatever we need to in order to not feel the guilt.

Once others become concerned about the behavior and start discussing the inherent reasons why the behavior is inappropriate from a religious stand point, we begin to rationalize that if the only reason this is wrong is because God says it is wrong, I'll deny God. If there is no God, there is no Sin. If there is no Sin, I can go right on doing what I feel like with no consequence... Not even the consequence of guilt, because the light in us (our conscience) has faded and we have successfully killed God and taken away all of the consequences of sin.

I just wonder, how many of you athiests are so caught up in the pleasures of the world that you have killed God in order to alleviate your guilt?