[Jacques]

I'm an atheist-I can understand why people might believe in a higher power, and I don't think that it will ever be possible to prove the existence or non-existence of such (But who knows) so I kind of think the whole debate about that is a bit pointless.

The way I think about it, even if a higher power did exist, it doesn't follow that I should have to follow their ideological dogma if I don't personally think it's a good idea. The entire idea of a 'god' type figure creating free will, and then insisting everyone follow a set of (to a greater or lesser extent) strict rules whilst alive, for benefit after you die- seems contradictory. Of course, there may not be such a thing as free will (separate but connected topic), but if that were the case then the higher power would be controlling me not to believe in it- which doesn't make sense either...

Ultimately, I think things would be a lot better for a lot of people if the people so focused on life after death thought a bit more about how they treat people whilst they are alive, and that if they are entitled to live their own lives in the way they choose, people who think differently should also be allowed to. I don't like extremists of any sort, including atheist fundamentalism that all religion/ faith is evil and wrong.

My two cents...