Rise of atheism: 100,000 Brits seek 'de-baptism'

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ManusJustus said:

sonicshuffle said:
I'm actually glad I'm not atheist. It seems depressing thinking that once you die that's it. There's nothing to look forward to.

For me, it would be depresseing to believe in God and know that nothing that I will ever do matters.  I can develop new ways to use renewable energy, I can work on new theories to describe the universe, or I can work on new medicines to treat diseases, but with God all those great actions dont matter.  You could be on the cutting edge of medical science or you could live in a cave, your actions have no effect on the greater outcome of things.

I am a leftist, and thus, I am often accused of being lazy and wanting the government to provide.  For me, the lazy people are the religious who want a God to provide for them.

Its all relative.

This is one of the most incoherent and ignorant posts on these issues I've seen in a long long time, and I'll explain why:

Incoherent because you never actually explain why god existing would necessarily mean it doesn't matter. For instance, how is it any different with or without a God that interacts on on the level that we have now (ie not much at all)? Why does it necessarily "not matter" when god exists?

Ignorant because religious people don't actually expect god to give them anything, they merely draw personal strength from their own belief.  It's interesting that you use a morale equivalence which indicates that you see a lack of self-reliance as a negative thing (and I agree with you on that) but justify your promotion of non-self-reliance by government intervention to yourself by trying to argue that other positions are "no worse" or "the same thing".

In reality you won't find a single major religion that actually believes that god will provide for their follower's mortal needs, but that their community of believers can do good deeds in god's name.  In short its the idea that "god works through good people", and the key here is that it is people who are working, not god.  In fact by all accounts the focus of god's direct efforts are almost exclusively on their immortal needs as viewed through their beliefs. So there is really no comparison to be made here whatsoever to justify your "it's no worse" argument.