Arbiter, I'm very fond of life and intend to live life to the fullest. I need no promise of an afterlife to enjoy this one life that I have. As another atheist once said: "The only position that leaves me with no cognitive dissonance is atheism. It is not a creed. Death is certain, replacing both the siren-song of Paradise and the dread of Hell. Life on this earth, with all its mystery and beauty and pain, is then to be lived far more intensely: we stumble and get up, we are sad, confident, insecure, feel loneliness and joy and love. There is nothing more; but I want nothing more." What makes me sad is thinking if there really is a plan, how sad that the plan involves hunger, sickness, misery and a cruel death for so many.