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Originally Posted by €uroMeinke
...Perhaps the benefit of Faith, is that it allows you to pass along those things you have no control over to an entity that presumably does. You no longer have to worry, and can be relieved that someone is doing something about the perceived injustice, evil, and bad hair days of the world.
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Now, I have a different view in that regards. I think that it's much easier to just believe that it ends and is entirely over with your last breath. No more worries, nada, and you won't care, because your power source has been switched off and you no longer think. You no longer
are.
Belief in the continuance after death of one's self brings with it a whole new set of responsibilities. If you believe in reincarnation, you are living your current life in accordance with how you want to live your next life. If you belong to the typical Christian-type religion, you are encouraged to follow a lifestyle that fits within your church's definition of 'righteous', or face going south for eternity. There are few religions that don't have a code or set of requirements one must follow in order to gain whatever it is they are promising in the afterlife. It seems to me that being an atheist must be freeing in a way, although I'm sure it has it's downside as well. (Mind you, I am not talking about behavior, because most atheists and agnostics I know are the most ethical and moral people around- they don't need to be threatened with eternal damnation to be good, they just are). It's also harder to reconcile injustice, because we often don't see karmic payback in this life and people get away with horrible things all the time. This probably causes more crisis of faith than just about anything else, especially since we aren't allowed to go vigilante and stuff.
