Today’s Jesus and Mo strip, called “kaput”, came with the one-word comment, “nearly”. Once again, faced with the truth about individual extinction, the Divine Duo simply deny it. And they always accuse others (the barmaid in this case) of their own sins; here it’s having appealing fantasies. 
An attractive fantasy. Is that what Jesus and Mo think of religion?
Mmmmm….
As seems to be happening often with me, I am reminded of the late Daniel Dennett’s observation: “There is simply no polite way to tell people that they have dedicated their lives to an illusion.”
Atheists are brain dead after death while the religious are before death.
!
They are A-void-ists! 🙂
Religion feeds on those people who cannot handle the emotional elements of understanding the finiteness of existence. Historically that has been most of the human race, but in the past it has been easier to excuse given the state of knowledge (lack thereof) held by our species. Still, even now I do have sympathy for these people, and I would leave them to their fantasies but unfortunately the ways in which this emotional incapacity manifests has had, and for the foreseeable future will continue to have, overwhelming repercussions for our societies and our world. Ironically, it is the very thing behind our most self-destructive actions and impulses.
I doubt that religious fantasies are behind our most self-destructive actions and impulses. I believe that’s down to a widespread human impulse towards totalitarianism (which in turn probably has to do with evolved tendencies to seek power and impose social order.)
Religion by its nature provides fertile ground for the totalitarian impulse; it also may, sometimes, mitigate it. But secular institutions and belief systems are just as vulnerable to it.
We can oppose falsehood out of respect for clarity of thought, without imagining that religion is the root of all our evils.
I wasn’t saying that “religion is the root of all evil”. My point, rather, was that the inability of many humans to cope with (and therefore accept) the idea that they will at some point cease to exist creates an emotional instability that can be and has been exploited by religion. This instability ultimately leads to self-destructive outcomes. Religion only adds fuel to the fire.
For this reason, and others as well, including respect for clarity of thought, I believe that religion must be opposed.
The original scam!
Pay now for the illusion of an attractive eternal life.
Eternal guarantee expires if not satisfied after death.
A lifetime guarantee! If not totally satisfied, refunds may be claimed in person only.
Fair enough; I misstated your argument. My own point is simply that I doubt that an emotional incapacity to accept the finiteness of existence, or an emotional instability induced thereby, is what’s behind our most self-destructive actions and impulses. I don’t doubt that facing mortality is emotionally difficult (to put it mildly). An inability to accept harsh realities can have devastating effects (please don’t ask me how I know. Hint: my mother was a Christian Scientist). But I think there are more parsimonious explanations for human self-destructive tendencies, based in evolutionary psychology. Non-human animals with, presumably, no understanding of death exhibit many of the same tendencies. (For a good, if grim, example, see the late Frans de Waal’s Chimpanzee Politics.)
It’s an interesting hypothesis, though, and worth exploring.