I am glad Ravi said this because it is true. I am sorry if I gave you the impression that I thought otherwise. By societies standards an atheist, Christian, Jew, agnostic and even a satanist can be moral if they follow the laws. By Gods standards however none of us are.
My initial thought still remains and that is that one must have a moral compass to begin with. That originates from somewhere other than man even if he is not a Christian, I argue it comes from God. God is that base.
To argue man is of himself able to decide right from wrong and to distinguish evil from good is still untrue. He has a guide and that guide is God and His moral law.
Otherwise, who gets to decide? One man rapes, steals and plunders because to him it is good. Another murders because to him it was right. Without something other than ourselves to guide us in morality there is no base. What gives one man the right to judge above another what he considers right?
I mean truthfully, isn't this the very problem we are having in society right now with what "we would call" smaller issues of morality? What is good for me, may not be good for you, but as long as I am not hurting anyone.
The truth is, however that our actions do affect one another. People act in immoral ways but there is no gauge because we are trying to be the judges.
Look at the threads you all post. Do you not see "smaller" areas of morality for which no one has a basis because we are attempting to use ourselves as that base and we all measure differently?
To be on any common ground we need the Lord's moral laws and He is always the origin of any good morals an individual adopts for himself.