Critical thinker, skeptical about atheism.

[Esquilax]

at the end of the day we all have a desire for fulfillment in this life, and I believe that's why atheism is such a minority belief system in our world,

You know, you say that any meaning you make up in your mind is delusional, but at the same time you're also saying that not having a meaning because we don't have sufficient evidence to know is bad, and that having a religion is preferable because it gives you a meaning and fulfillment. But if you preference having a religion on those grounds, when many religions are mutually exclusive and therefore some of the meanings they provide- if not all of them- are made up in the mind rather than being real. And since you seem not to care whether that fulfillment is real, over simply having it no matter what it is, then what you're really doing is denigrating a type of "delusion" that you've already decided you don't like, while praising a number of "delusions" that you've decided already that you do like.

You're special pleading based on nothing, in short.

it leaves one empty, because it has no answers for the most basic questions, and who wants to live an Empty existence,

It doesn't leave me empty, and I'm a part of it. And you aren't, as a matter of fact; if you're a theist and not an atheist, how in the hell do you know anything at all about what atheism does to you mentally?

And if those questions have no answers that satisfy you, then those questions have no answers that satisfy you. It doesn't instantly mean that the answers religions offer are true, it just means you aren't going to be satisfied with the answers that really do exist, which is too bad for you, I guess. It also means that the answers you've accepted from your religion aren't real, and were, in fact, made up in the mind, making them a delusion according to your logic.

So, once again, your own position is self refuting and inconsistent. It's almost as if you're going with what feels good to you, rather than thinking about it at all!

wondering what the point of getting up in the morning is, if one lives a meaningless life that ends in a hole in the ground,

some will say, "There is no meaning to life, but you can just use your imagination to make one up", but thats living a delusion.

Again, there are more mental constructs than just delusions, and if you use your logic then you're advocating for delusions yourself, while you denigrate them from a position you've presupposed is wrong.

Additionally, you've offered no argument or evidence for why a self-derived purpose is any less legitimate than a divine one, you've just asserted that it's true, as though your opinion on the matter is the end of the discussion.

And so we will always have religion it seems to me, since the alternative is a despair,

So you'll always have the delusions you like, to save you from the possibility that reality hasn't arranged itself just perfectly so that you're always comfortable and happy.

even if its veiled in a kind of "positive denial", that everything is OK with the world,

despite it being completely meaningless and empty, seems like an oxymoron to me.

Yet more empty assertions that assume your conclusion in order to function.

Oh and a little off topic, amazing inexplicable phenomena in this world, backed up by incredible discoveries in Paranormal Psychology, certainly reinforce the validity of religion as well.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8eg9qY_7qvg

Even if real, ghosts aren't evidence for god.