Abiogenesis is impossible

[Sword of Christ]

The urge to live further than the frail human body allows, yes...

Other than ancient Egypt immortality that wasn't really the compelling belief. The ancient Jews didn't even really believe in any afterlife and they still don't particularly have a unified doctrine today. Christian doctrine does have plenty to say when it comes to eternal life as revealed by Christ. Outside of that you have NDEs which I think are good evidence for conscious survival beyond the physical state as there is a good case to be made that the brain is entirely biologically non-functional while they are having this experience. Also the experience does seem to have elements in common with the religious or mystical experience and importantly this is cross cultural. Besides I don't think atheists appreciate that consciousness being a byproduct of the brain is something for which there is any solid evidence or reason to believe. We know it's "physically influential" along with the rest of the body in general but that's about it. Everything else is speculation and assumption based on opinion. God provides the non-physical framework into which this opinion can be mistaken, you can be assured that it is.

Oh, I wouldn't be so bold...
South american indians were godless when the europeans came by

That's not true at all many of them believed in something like this.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panentheism


"In panentheism, the universe in the first formulation is practically the whole itself. In the second formulation, the universe and the divine are not ontologically equivalent. In panentheism, God is viewed as the eternal animating force behind the universe. Some versions suggest that the universe is nothing more than the manifest part of God. In some forms of panentheism, the cosmos exists within God, who in turn "transcends", "pervades" or is "in" the cosmos"

Very similar to the Biblical monotheism.

.. as far as the europeans could see, at least.
And the Buddhists are sort of considered atheists.... with that all pervasive requirement for life after the body shuts down.

Jainism and Buddhism the idea is that everything is God and we are part of God and we attain some kind of unity with God and dissolve yourself into it. In Christianity and the Abrahamic faiths there is always a clear distinction between God and his creatures and we retain our individually.