I can't see that it makes a lot of difference is the comfort is real or imagined - comfort is comfort. I don't view religious comfort at death or at other times of great stress to be some sort of balance sheet with the rest of theism. If someone is able to die peacefully due to their faith, all well and good.
Probably the most significant event in my life was the death of my father. He was an atheist who died peacefully, but I was hammered by friends and relatives offering me religious comfort (it was well know how close I was to Da). It infuriated me - not because I thought religious comfort was foolish or useless, but because I wasn't able to avail myself of it.
Boru
Probably the most significant event in my life was the death of my father. He was an atheist who died peacefully, but I was hammered by friends and relatives offering me religious comfort (it was well know how close I was to Da). It infuriated me - not because I thought religious comfort was foolish or useless, but because I wasn't able to avail myself of it.
Boru
‘But it does me no injury for my neighbour to say there are twenty gods or no gods. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.’ - Thomas Jefferson