Yes atheists have a conscience, but is it working? Of course it is, but it is not working with regards to the the kingdom of god.
Says who? Did Jesus tell you this himself? Can't your omnipotent God ensure that the human conscience has the capacity to function perfectly well regardless of a person's culture and upbringing?
If your god
can do this and
chooses not to, then he apparently doesn't have much of a conscience himself, since the failure to design mankind (and womankind) with an inherent, fully functioning conscience would be guaranteed to create needless suffering. It's the equivalent of being a parent in a position to prevent one child from seriously harming another and choosing not to.
An atheist does not have a conscience that helps it understand or realise if or when they have broken the law of christ.
I would argue that neither do most Christians.
If you greatly prefer you own destruction than eternity in the presence of christians, then you wish will certainly be granted. I myself do not wish to share eternity with an bunch of hateful, judgmental and nasty christians. But then...are they christians?
My greatest joy in life is diversity. Even an afternoon with a group of people who have only one opinion between them is intolerable to me. Any afterlife I would care to partake in would include people of all faiths, no faith and infinite variations between. And not just that, but all the creatures of the sky and sea. What would be the point of an afterlife where I could not enjoy the sight of a cormorant drying its wings, or dragonflies dancing in a beam of sunlight? Only Christians, Jesus and God, sitting forever on a featureless cloud? That sounds exactly like like hell to me. The only other thing it would need would be
this brass band.
I dont focus on these issue...I'll let god be the judge between one person and the next.
With respect, you are not "letting god be the judge" when you claim that an atheist can not have a fully functioning conscience, or be a decent enough person to join the believers in the afterlife. I have no objection to being judged by God, if by some cosmic joke there actually turns out to be such an entity. What I refuse to accept is the judgment of
people who, like yourself and (presumably) your church, claim they are superior to everyone else, or more deserving of love, simply because of their religious beliefs.
If anything i greatly prefer to spend enternity with jesus who is the hero of my life, and my saviour. It is completely ludicrous to expect somebody to love jesus if they dont recognise him as a saviour.
On the contrary. Plenty of people love Jesus perfectly well - as a teacher, philosopher, revolutionary, or even just as a myth. That might not be your thing, but I'd stop short of calling it "ludicrous". In many cases it's quite sincere. Tipping the tables of the money lenders is particularly dear to my heart. We need more like him these days.