I have no problem saying atheists and Christians are EQUAL.
Not sure what you mean by "EQUAL". I am assuming you mean that "atheists and Christians" are two groups that are both "equally"capable of good and bad. If that is the case, sure, I'll play along.
But some people seem to have the belief that atheists are MORE likely to be morally good, or MORE likely to change the world for good, than Christians and theists.
But what evidence do you have to support this claim?
I am an atheist, and I do not make the claim that an atheist is likely to do more good than a Christian. Other atheists may disagree.
What I would claim is that a person that is a <insert preferred religion here> that gets their marching orders from <insert preferred deity here> from their <insert preferred holy book here> and follows unquestioningly, is likely to do more bad. And, if people can't grasp that by looking at history and current events, I don't know what to tell you.
If atheism is what causes people to do great positive things for the world...
I do not agree with that proposition. Atheism, again, is not a world-view or a religion, etc. All it tells you is what I don't believe in on a very specific issue (i.e. God's existence). It does not tell you anything about my morality, what I fight for (e.g. social equality), how I make decisions (e.g. critical thinking), or inform you on my motivations for doing "good" or "bad", or tell you what is my favorite flavor of ice cream, etc.
..., then why weren't Martin Luther King, Jr., William Wilberforce, Isaac Newton, Francis Collins, Barack Obama, Mother Theresa, Abraham Lincoln, or John F. Kennedy atheists?
So, should my response be a long list of non-Christian believers and atheists, and then debate who has the longer list or who has better/more famous people in it? In reality, I don't know why any of the above were not professed atheists. If I could answer that I would probably have the cure for religion.
