Religious Belief

I am an atheist. I know that there really is not a good reason, at least as far as evidence is concerned, to believe in the existence of a god. There is really no arguing that. But I have a pretty good idea of why the concept of a god exists and exists in the vast majority of people. First, if a person really deep down believes in a loving god, it can give comfort. Death is pretty scary, what with the notion of endless nothingness, and avoiding all that nothingness can ease the mind. Aside from that, a lot of people feel strength from being in the good graces of their god. A prayer of appreciation can feel pretty good, sort of like putting two dollars in the red, Salvation Army bucket at Christmas time. For the record, I am appreciative of life too, it's just that I do not believe that it does any good to silently express that appreciation in the form of a prayer, consequently, I don't bother.

When I die, should that ever happen, I would like to relive all the great moments I have enjoyed in life. That would include the most thrilling sled rides, the most scrumptious pizzas, the most gripping movies, and the most exciting moments I have experienced while naked. When I've done those things, I would like to relive them again but to avoid the boredom of repetition, I would have no recollection of ever reliving them the first time. I figure that God would be capable of accommodating me on that. Theoretically, my version of heaven could go on forever. Unfortunately, it is highly unlikely that my heaven exists, just like it is highly unlikely that anyone's version of heaven exists. When it comes right down to it, the two differences between me and those who actually think there is a heaven is, #1; I am more realistic and, #2; I am more nervous about The Great Beyond. Sometimes being rational comes with a price.