Reply #85: both of the responses seem outrageously arrogant

[hfojvt]

First of all, I do know what I am missing, since I spent the first six years of my adult life as an atheist. Second, you only mentioned two possibilities, both of which sound odd to me. Third, what is pleasure? Some things that seem pleasurable, like smoking, drinking alcohol, and doing cocaine are personally and socially harmful. Other people, apparently, find pleasure in beating the crap out of people. Any ethical person is expected to restrain both their pleasure and their freedom when it is harmful to other people.

As far as justice goes many of the people calling for that in history have been religious prophets, and people fighting for it such as John Brown, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and Washington Gladden have been motivated by their religious beliefs. Also, instead of "making the most of their temporary life" they did what they thought was right, a more difficult path which lead to an early death for two of the three I mentioned.

Living with hope of an afterlife is not asking to be treated as a child your entire life. Although the belief seems implausible and there is no proof for it, it is also not impossible, nor has it been disproven. It's a leap of faith in either direction.