happy new year to you and your family . yes i agree 100% with fishbuff , we are both here to make this world a better place .we dont need heaven as a reward and hell as punishment ..i contend that we are both atheists. i just believe in one fewer god than you do. when you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours . many theists assume that people require a god to give them a sense of purpose or meaning in life. atheists have no such need, but are commonly thought to need it! theusual theist assumption is that atheists are evil, theist-haters, who will kill withoutremorse, steal from the poor; eat babies, and whatever other insane things their twisted imaginations can come up with ! atheists are usually quite fond of life, since it is the only one we have. we respect life, especially that of humans. we do not think that since this planet and humans arrived by chance that life is worthless. no these views are exactly what theists believe though. theists if you think about it, need a god to make their existence makesense and to make them respect life. atheists do such things without divine intervention and enjoy helping people out ! most atheists do not have hollow lives, with bitterness and hatred towards the rest of "creation." most see the world for what it is, beautiful and amazing in every way. wesee life as a great accomplishment and treasure every moment we have on earth. we do not look at living creatures as simply worm-food of the future. atheists, especially humanists, find human beings to be magnificent creatures and will do everything in their power to further our development and happiness! wE wishto see all of humanity rise to a level of intelligence that requires no religion to make sense of the world. we wish that everyone would see the world as we do, because once that happens we can all work towards the "greater good." it is not a sad life we live , it is full of wonder and excitement! wE know we have a short time on the planet and know the only way to truly achieve immortality is to somehow place our mark on history, either simply through our children or on a global scale! we attempt to learnand experience as much as possible and pass on whatever knowledge we have gained to our children, so that they will be stronger because of us.does that sound so bad? cheers .