The June/July issue of Free Inquiry contains a thought provoking article by Greta Christina, “Do We Concede the Ground of Death Too Easily?” The article is not available online, but Christina has posted the text of the article on her blog.
Christina agrees
that the fear of death is one of the main reasons people cling to religion. But I don’t agree, even in the slightest, that religious philosophies of death are inherently more comforting than secular ones.
To prove her point, Christina examines heaven:
The idea of a perfect, blissful afterlife where you and everyone you love will live forever… think about it for a moment. All your conflicts with the people you care about — do those just disappear? If they don’t… how will Heaven be perfectly blissful? And if they do disappear… how will you be you?
After reading “Do We Concede the Ground of Death Too Easily?” you will agree that atheists should “stop treating death as if it belongs to religion.”