[Mempho]

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Not because of charitable work or anything like that. But rather simply because it makes a lot of people happier than they otherwise would be. They might claim that they would like to be free of the restrictions that their religion puts on them. But I think almost everybody would agree that they are happier with their religion and its restrictions than they would be without either.

Even if you go under the assumption that the specifics of any religion are definitely false, that doesn't mean that a practitioner of that religion or even someone not yet born who is destined to practice it, is better off not believing in it. The fact is that only a minority of the individuals in this world gain more than they lose by being atheists, even if atheism is assumed to be correct.

In order to gain from atheism you need to be the type of person who derives much satisfaction from knowing the truth and you also need to be someone who is pretty happy with what they are doing and how their life is going. There are atheists who do not fit into this category of course. They might be ex theists who have become embittered. But that was probably too bad for them.

I had originally assummed that almost everyone on this forum is one of those minority of people who is better off not believing in something that is a monumental underdog to be true. Which is why I gave arguments for non belief. Perhaps ten percent of theists would be happier if they became atheists. But I thought a much bigger percent of two plus two theists would be happier as atheists. I don't think that anymore. So I see no good reason for me to pursue the subject further.

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Excellent post, David. You and I agree on the happiness factor. We disagree on what truth is, but I'm glad to see you make such a post. You're intelligent enough to see how much the intangible benefit means to many people.

FWIW, I do derive much satisfaction from "knowing the truth," and I think a lot of other theists do as well. There is almost certainly, however, a much greater number of theists who believe on the much more "intangible basis" that you describe. Anyway, "truth" is debated in almost every other thread, so I will leave it alone here.

Also, FWIW, there are many things about being a theist that make me unhappy. For instance, I believe in hell and there aren't many people that I'd feel good about them going there. In fact, it's hard to imagine even a grotesque figure like Hitler deserving damnation in eternity. Maybe 10,000 years, but forever? That doesn't make me happy at all. In fact, as a believer in Christ, I hope that there is some sort of way that everyone eventually gets to heaven. I know that's not described in the Bible, but, as far as I know, it's not completely ruled out. Certainly, I believe that God understands things in a way that I don't, so, I do believe that, in some way, he has infinate grace.