Does atheism discourage values?

No, it doesn't.

[revolver]

I think that atheism helps us to see the beauty of life, the science of life with its many wonders, where as religion reduces us to a belief in a god that made it all, and in that the mystery of life is dead.

[wolfgaze]

"Head, or intellectual belief, is not fundamental and causative, but it is superficial and consequent, and that it has no power in the moulding of a man's character, the most superficial observer may easily see. Take, for instance, half a dozen men from any creed. They not only hold the same theological belief, but confess the same articles of faith in every particular, and yet their characters are vastly different. One will be just as noble as another ignoble; one will be mild and gentle, another coarse and irascible; one will be honest, another dishonest; one will indulge certain habits which another will rigidly abjure, and so on, plainly indicating that theological belief is not an influential factor in a man's life. A man's theological belief is merely his intellectual opinion or view of the universe; God, the bible, etc, and behind and underneath this head-belief there lies, deeply rooted in his innermost being, the hidden, silent, secret belief of his heart, and it is this belief which moulds and makes his whole life. It is this which makes those six men who, whilst holding the same theology, are yet so vastly at variance in their deeds - they differ in the vital belief of the heart." ~ James Allen

[Serrao]

I don't need God to tell me (through others) how to be a good person.
I want to discover that and learn and grow by myself.

I only need God because I need a heavenly Parent who will always be there for me and with whom I can talk about everything.

[Tobi]

It's strange, but the atheists I have known are those people with very strong moral values. Neither do they believe in 'life after death' -so they're not doing what they do for 'karma points' either. Just because they are following their hearts. "Belief and disbelief" will all melt away into the light of knowing one day....

[Dragonsong]

Atheism does not mean you don't have values, there are plenty of people who believe in God or Gods, that have done very horrible things to other people, and not just in the past.