I thought the above was interesting. I’ve found it rare that believers will acknowledge an important component of religious faith: that the faith exaggerates the psychological concept of in-group/out-group bias.
Ultimately, Gatekeeper, If you are comforted by your religious beliefs then there is nothing more to say except that your belief being unsupported and lacking in demonstration may mean you’re living an illusion. I’ve always maintained, I could be wrong, there could be a god. But the answer is exactly the same. Actively be a participant in making this the kind of world that minimizes human suffering. Saying, "it’s impossible" or "man can never achieve that" is clearly surrendering before you even begin. Would it be easy to do? No. Is it possible? Yeah. Of course it is.
Hope for the best, prepare for the worst. The answer again is the same -- let's say you spend your entire life making it as good a world as you can -- is your life somehow wasted if there is no god? Does it count against you? No, it doesn't.
You, all of us, can contribute to making the world better. Do you really need an eternal reward to invest a few decades to the human condition? Does it all "matter in the end"? No, but it does matter while you're here. And that's good enough. Actually, science avoids this question altogether. There is no real atheist asserted philosophy, all of atheism tends to be a critique of theist assertions. Even the Big Bang doesn't address god issues. Maybe god is behind the Big Bang, who knows? Atheism is really a philosophical rejection of the assertions of theism as undemonstrated and fallacious, nothing more.
The entire god question is a pretty important one I'd say. For me, it's not something to just roll over and believe because if you truly dig deep into what allows you to believe, you will find there is no clear reason to believe as you do-- the differing paradigms out there do not make a single case that rises above the others. In other words, there is no reason to believe Christianity over Islam over Buddhism over Judaism over Hinduism.
But none of them make the absolute case of authority -- hence, I select the default position of atheism until such time as there is a clear defining reason to select one over the other.
But the struggle over the spiritual questions -- in fact, pondering all great mysteries -- is the real thing that sets us above the animals. Perhaps in the end, sentient life is the universe's way of trying to understand itself. But I consider that a noble struggle, and don't diminish it in any way. I applaud it and it makes me feel good about the human condition. And hell, what is more courageous than saying, "I want to know the truth?" (wherever it leads).
