My hope is always that the atheist is here for the same reason as the Christian, to discuss God. Some believe he exists and best explains our reality, others do not. My challenge to those who do not is, for you what offers a better solution to death than "kaput"? Honestly, it's that simple for me, so I choose to believe and defend that belief against atheists.
If the atheist isn't welcome here, what's the point of my defense?
I am interested in humanity, and I'm interested in philosophy. The philosophy of religion has much to say in both, and it is something that I read.
I do not believe in God, but then, neither do Buddhists, really, and yet Buddhism is considered a religion (I actually think of it as more philosophy, but that doesn't matter).
For me, an atheist, death actually is "kaput." This is my life, here and now, the only one that I shall have. I shall be as "aware" of anything after I die as I was before I was born -- meaning not at all. As Mark Twain put it: "I do not fear
death. I had been
dead for billions and
billions of years before I was born, and had not suffered the slightest inconvenience from it." For me, ity is inauthentic to prepare for an "afterlife." The only authentic way I can exist is to live the best life I can while I have it -- both for me and for those around me.
I am interested in religion because, first and foremost, I believe that our beliefs inform our actions. And let us be frank, many actions (both good and bad, sometimes very good and sometimes really, really bad) taken by humans have been informed by religious belief. I can think of some where religious belief has resulted in actions that were seemingly both good and bad at the same time: for example, the work of Mother Teresa, who cared for the sick and dying -- but believing that suffering is somehow a good thing -- did so without painkillers, with inadequate food and hygiene. As Christopher Hitchens noted, she was not a friend of the poor, she was a friend of poverty, which supplied her with endless people she could "care for."
If, as I said, our beliefs inform our actions, then is it not prudent to be aware of others' beliefs? And if those beliefs lead to harmful actions -- like mistreatment of LGBTQ+ people, or shunning and other harmful social outcomes -- to at least point them out, if not to fight them outright?
