Iceman

Nothing wrong with being an atheist. Atheism is a natural and inevitable stage of mind development. Everyone at some point experiences that time in their growth when they say to themselves "Hey wait a minute, how the hell can Santa get to all those houses in one night." Those still believing in Santa think those in their "hey, wait a minute stage" are just terrible.

The question shouldn't be, how can you be an atheist, but how can you not? Once one realises, even just a little, that our planet is nothing more than a temporary condensation of space, "eternal" this, that, or the other (Carl Sagan said they can see, just in the observable universe, 100 NEW solar systems form every second... that's not a typo... he said every second), including the stereotypical Zeus look-a-like who runs his planet similar to the the way Al Capone ran Chicago, disapperars.

One of, if not 'the' first question that appeared in my mind in about 1953 was, "hey wait a minute, if Hell is eternal and those in Hell are there for eternity, what happens to Hell and those in it following Super Nova?" The Catholic teaching that Mary ascended 'bodily' to heaven also was a "hey, wait a minute" awakening; every bit as ludicrous as the Rapture and of courss we could go on.

From what I understand, the liturgical churches and some Fundamentalist ones are now saying there is no physical Hell, only separation from God for eternity. So today, they don't see me as being as terrible as in 1953.