Religion/god is just wishful thinking.

[thesummerqueen]

While I can understand your sentiment as an atheist, your assessment is overly simplistic.

I had to give you kudos for this, Chad. I think we atheists do a disservice to ourselves when we try simplify the motivations behind religious belief and claim that there is only one influential factor. It seems only to reinforce the stereotype that atheists just don't "get" religion.

Do I think that fear of death factors into religious beliefs? Absolutely, I do, but to simply assert without evidence that something as complex as the motivations behind religion can be boiled down to one factor is, to me, counterproductive.

People in general, I find, dislike thinking in shades of gray. Finding "one" cause to anything at all is always so much simpler.