The_Metatron wrote: You believe that some version of you will continue to exist beyond your death. A belief you desperately wish were so, but you will find you cannot demonstrate it to be so. Fear of death. That’s why we’re here.

The idea that man invented religious ideas of afterlife in order to assuage the fear of death might sound plausible at first. But when you investigate it a bit more deeply it just doesnt seem to line up with anything we know to be true about what the ancients actually believed anywhere in the world.

When looking at Ancient Egyptian, Mayan, Indus, or Nordic cultures or even greek mythology one is presented with an afterlife that is nonsensical and brutal. And your treatment in these afterlifes will often depend on factors you yourself might never had any control over. Such as the social status you were born into, the way you died or the rituals performed after your death. They werent feel-good stories.

The_Metatron wrote:Tell me, what’s in it for me to even bother to seek a “better” idea than your imagined beliefs? You aren’t going to change.

Johnny Blade wrote:
If you are an atheist than I guess it would be waste of time to ask you if you had a better idea.

On certain topics, a "better idea" is one that leads either to more consistency with facts or to more engaging and exciting stories. Of course, in other areas, a "better idea" is one that makes more money. I think religious nonsense fits the bill, there. Why not just go with cynicism, Johnny?