[tomjen3]

It is typical religious guilt. You must sacrifice for the stranger because if you help your friends you may get some enjoyment out of it too.

surprisingly common in atheists, environmentalists, etc even if they are not traditionally considered religious.

[anamax]

etc includes big govt folks too. Since they're both more numerous and more powerful than enfironmentalists.

However, I don't see the atheist connection. Yes, some atheists are big govt types, sure, some do, but "sacrifice for the stranger because ..." doesn't seem to be an essentially atheist characteristic.

[pitt1980]

I think the point is that sometimes atheists are more influenced by ideas that come from religion than they realize

[esrauch]

And yet if they say anything otherwise they are accused of being nihilists.