Atheists ONLY - Are you less happy now that you are an atheist?

[thesummerqueen]

I think a lot of people are scared shitless and want the bad things in their life to have reason. Some people just can't accept that "shit happens," or that sometimes random events are caused by the actions or inactions of others and we're all caught up in the web. You know, the whole "a butterfly flaps its wings in China and a hurricane starts in FL" sort of thing. There probably IS a reason for everything, but God surely isn't it. Plate tectonics, weather patterns, human greed and ingenuity...these things influence our lives. And for the most part, we have no control over them. I have no control over a war lord in Africa who starves his populace and whose armies rape women and put guns in the hands of children to decimate another tribe. And for some reason, rather than being saddened by it, I am okay with knowing that prayer doesn't do fuck all about it either. I can give money, or I could give time and energy, or I can vote in leaders who might help with the situation. Knowing the things I can do, and knowing what affect they will probably have in the long run, is much more comforting than a lie.