Looks like I need to give up religion. Same thing I ran into on the other board. I was also on the wrong side of the fence politically (that's what really did it)...
As I said there, there is "no religion". Right thing to say nowadays. When we die, they just put our preserved body (with, I'm assuming, a dead useless soul as well) into a 6' long box and make our family cry as they lower our carcass into the ground. Unless of course we took Viagra before we died, they might have to make our casket 8'.
I still want to hear an explanation for Karma from an Athiest.
Karma is translated as "action" and is mis-represented as a personal burden of ones actions. Karma is not a personal experience. Karma is best described as "what goes around, comes around" Your actions and the actions of others go around in a circle.
It is very difficult to retain buddhist concepts whilst believing in God. Don't conflate atheism with a complete non belief in spirituality or meaning.
Atheism is literally "Non-theism". It means one is not a theist, in as much as there is no belief in a religious doctrine or thought system which involves a deity
Buddhist/Hinduism/Taoism etc do not believe in a creator, or separate God. Their creation stories are, and always were, considered allegorical. Belief in a sky pixie who watches everything we do is not the only way one can explore meaning. It is not a choice of "rock and stone" atheism or "biblical standard" Christianity. Although many will accuse the non-religious of lacking the ability to see life as anything but meaningless.
As for the soul, the central view of Buddhism is that you don't need one. We are all little nerve endings in the universe. Our minds are the place that the universe experiences itself. You can only experience it from one viewpoint, hence the illusion of personal soveriegnty, So, when you die, you die, but you have always been alive, and always will be, as you are the same fundamental stuff as rocks, water, animals and people. Your ego, and your attachment to yourself, is what creates all the problems with this. If you can see this, death holds no fear, as you've always been alive, you are just a perspective.
Trying to define what "you" are is the start to enjoying this viewpoint, as one cannot be described without describing the rest of the universe. We are completely connected with everything and do not exist in isolation.