Son of JayJamJah

I have no interest in discrediting any religion at all, just distancing myself from it. I was raised Catholic and the church community was full of wonderful people who did extraordinary things in the name in God. So again I hold no ill will nor do I wish to convert or change anyones personal faith.

The crux of my argument if I were to make one would be that
a) To the lesser evolved and more persecuted it is a rallying point for violence (I'll get to that briefly)
b)Most Christians do not 100% believe in God. I make this conclusion with great certainty based on several factors. Anyone who has ever stolen or cheated on the spouse for example could not believe in God as that is forbidden and the reward, Eternal Bliss, is far to great for any right minded person to chance it if they truly believed without doubt. An overwhelming percentage of prison inmates describe themselves as deeply religious. This is a good example for how religion started.

All living things die, and humans are the only living things on earth aware of that. That will blow your mind when you first come to grips with it as a species. You feel like you need answers, basic human instinct, but they are of course beyond your comprehension so you make them up.

Now you know there is some sort of "fiction" element to religion as the sheer variety of them causes constant contradiction. Really what you have is different cultures trying to convey values and morals to protect their children, another basic human instinct. What you end up is at first crude and causes a lot of God-envy and waring in the name of religion, eventually what you seem to get to is what we have today, (With the exception of Islamo-fascists) refined peaceful religions that preach loving your fellow man and being selfless.

I am an Atheist, but I have two children and a wife who are Christians. I have always told my children when they asked why they should learn about Jesus Christ and God when I did not believe in him. that story of Christ, is even if completely fictional is still a wonderful lesson on how to lead your life. They are married now and will likely raise their children as Christians as well.

I would argue that the fact that I don't believe there is an afterlife has made me value each day more because I believe my time is here is so small in the grand scheme of things and life is such a precious an amazing gift that I owe it to myself and the people I love to make the best of it.

I guess I'm not even the kind of person who says "There is no God" to mean that I know there is not, just to remind people who use their God as a reference that it is meaningless because I don't believe in any particular God in any religion.

By the by jgd I don't disagree with your logic at all, I would however argue that we might conclude based on how many forms or religion and mythology have been disproved or become archaic that those of this century might too reach and fall the same fate given time to run their course.