The most important reason I'm xtian

[Esquilax]

Now you say that I can have all of that without Christianity... And you may be correct. I noted with keen interest the poll on whether people are happier as atheists than as Christians. It's possible that were I to shuck religion I would still be as content... But why bother? At present it seems to be working well for me. I can't see how atheism would provide better circumstances, and they might prove worse. You ask why not keep the good bits and shuck the rest, in return I would ask why shuck anything?

It just depends on whether you value believing true things, versus believing comforting things. Frankly, I find your outlook here very perplexing: what is it that you gain from believing in a claim that you can't confirm as true? What benefit has believing false things ever given anyone?

And understand that when I say you should abandon some beliefs, I'm not just saying it as a question of a cost/benefit analysis either. I'm saying that if your religious beliefs follow from this idea that you feel better with them, if you've got no reason to believe beyond that, if you just find them useful... then they probably aren't. In that case, my suggestion to you would be that the benefits you're finding that cause you to stay with your religion have nothing to do with the religion and its god, and everything to do with you and the mental adjustments you can make given the correct set of stimuli.

Religious folk would have you believe that going atheist reduces your life, somehow. But there's nothing to subtract, because imaginary goals that offer nothing real have never been of any use to anyone; you leaving your religion, if you only believe for the reasons you've stated, isn't going to take away the capacity for good, or the purpose you have. It's just going to allow you to take credit- and responsibility- for those actions yourself.

A few people in this thread have spoken of religion in terms of it being a burden. I really don't see it that way. To me it's a positive thing.

So ask yourself if it's the religion that's the positive thing, or the way it makes you feel.