Today's Atheist Meme of the Day. Pass this on; or don't; or edit it as you see fit; or make up your own. Enjoy!
Atheism does have comfort to offer in the face of death and suffering. Among other things, it offers the knowledge that our philosophies and coping mechanisms are based in reality, on a solid foundation of evidence and reason -- not on wishful thinking. Pass it on: if we say it enough times to enough people, it may get across.
Reality has other comforts, as well. You don't have to wonder why a particular misfortune has afflicted you, or what you're supposed to learn from it. It's enough to know that bad things happen, and sometimes they will happen to you.
Or as Christopher Hitchens remarked about how he's dealing with his cancer, "To the dumb question “Why me?” the cosmos barely bothers to return the reply: Why not?"
Posted by: ckitching | August 05, 2010 at 03:37 PM
http://blogs.nature.com/kausikdatta/2010/08/beautiful_sentiments.html
Posted by: Cuttlefish | August 05, 2010 at 04:59 PM