Or he's not as cool to hang out with as people seem to think he is.

"Don't you know there ain't no Devil, there's just God when he's drunk." --Tom Waits

Hah!
I can't even imagine going out to the bars with God...
"Hey, puny human... watch this bar trick!"

NOOOOOAAAAHHHaaaaaaaa

Of course you can always mess with him when he's drunk by asking him to do things like make a boulder he can't lift and whatnot.

I'd be afraid he would get smart...

Me: "Hey God, I bet you can't make a boulder so heavy, that you can't lift it yourself!"

God: "Yes I can. Here's what I'll do... I'm a loving god, so I'll make a huge boulder, put it in a small cave, so that there's only room above the boulder and the cave ceiling so that you can fit in that space and not be able to move. I'll make it so that you don't require food or water. Then I will cry in agony because I can't bring myself to lift the boulder, because it will kill you. And I love you too much to kill you."

Me: "What about all the other people that die all the time? If you love them, why don't you save them?"

God: "That's another bet that I'm winning."

To your first statement:
Please list them.

To your second statement:
That's not exactly what the saying implies. Let me use your example... If my faith in god dies, then a belief of his non-existence is created. It also allows me to create and cultivate other thoughts that were relatively disallowed when I was a believer.

Let me end my comment by saying that I have no problem with others believing in a god. It's just not for me.

Many of the eastern religions believe in reincarnation. They believe that these tragic things in life happen (or are even chose by the individual during their time between lives) in order to teach us lessons for the next life. All good and bad eventually evens out to get us where we need to be. Karma.

what's the point? we don't remember our past lives anyway

i'm more inclined to think that Karma is like that weird Taiwanese movie I saw in my childhood - the people die, end up in the 1st level of Hell (all Taoists go to Hell, btw, unless you attain Godhood), then the Lord of the Underworld will spin a Wheel of Fortune-type thingie and you get reincarnated as what the needle points to - a pig, a butterfly, etc

I'm actually very interested to hear what these eastern religions have to say about the practical issue of population increase. I mean, the number of "souls" (or whatever other ethereal descriptor they use) in living bodies has exponentially, exponentially increased since the time these traditions were founded. Are these new souls simply tossed into the cycle? Where do they come from? Surely this issue is addressed by the traditions?

Related, a fascinating article.

BBC News - Religion may become extinct in nine nations, study says

The paper uses mathematical models to show that if being non-religiously affiliated has a higher perceived utility, which is defined as "a quantity encompassing many factors including the social, economic, political and security benefits derived from membership as well as spiritual or moral consonance with a group", then the number of religious affiliates will decline until there are virtually none left. This has more to do with group psychology and nothing to do with evolutionary arguments but I think those are also important. It will be interesting to see if group utility or evolution prove more powerful.