Reply #16: Rationality, modernity, compassion, egalitarianism, equality.

[Deep13]

None of those things have anything to do with religion. They are Enlightenment values that are antithetical to religious dogma and the unquestioning servility it requires.

As far as your threadbare argument about life's ultimate meaning, you are arguing the consequent. If there is no god, life has no meaning, ergo there must be a god. Sorry, that's a logical fallacy. It ignores the possibility that in point of fact life might have no meaning. If true, pretending there is a god does not change that. The meaning and values that humanity has made for itself are far better than the empty promises of religion. It promises what it cannot deliver and claims authority it does not have.