By the same token as what’s presented in this post, I posit that we have a greater respect for life and th universe around us because we’re capable of accepting it at face value. The true age and size of the universe around us is far, far more awe-inspiring than any religious explanation I have ever read. The idea that all of this resolved from chaos is incredible to me–far more so than the idea that some God simply made it. The scientific explanations are far more intense.

And back to my initial issue of life, it is my belief that my respect for life is heightened by my atheism. Why? Because I believe (or perhaps “know”) that this is all there is. That my life and the world I see and touch and smell and so on is it. There’s no God, no heave, no hell, no afterlife, no reincarnation, nothing outside of this. Sure there may be other dimensions we can’t yet see or access, and there may be far more to the universe than we yet know, but the point is, what we have is what we have. And because I know I have only one life, I intend to live it. I’m not living it to prove myself worthy of an afterlife that doesn’t exist. I don’t treat the lives of the people around me as though I can see them “on the other side” (or not see them because I believe they’re going to a different worse place than I after we die), but instead acknowledge that each moment I spend with them is precious and irreplaceable, and that when they’re gone, they’re gone, and I have only my memories of them.

Atheists are often regarded as cold, soulless, and detached from spirit. It’s my belief that we’re capable of far more than the believers. I’m not saying that we all extend this deeply into our beliefs, as just like Christians there’s plenty of people who identify themselves as atheists who don’t really “get it.” But as a whole, there’s actually far more to our view of life and the universe than most religions are capable of accepting.

It baffles me that the insular and ‘small’ world described in the Bible can be judged even a tenth as awe inducing as the truth of space and the natural world.

Glenn.