>Perhaps another interesting question that can be asked that
>is related is: how should belief or disbelief in God affect
>us? (I.e., does it matter?)
I think it matters a great deal. For instance, why invest in
longevity research if you believe in an afterlife?
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Here are some answers: you might believe in an afterlife,
but believe that it's unpleasant. (Certainly, if you believed in
eternal damnation, longevity research could become very
attractive.) Or you might simply expect the afterlife to be boring,
and find life here on Earth interesting. For that matter, if I
believed in an afterlife, but only for humans, I might want to
invest in longevity research, because I like living in a world
that also includes such people as cats, butterflies, trees, birds,
elephants, and dolphins.
For that matter, while many religions preach an afterlife, there's
no reason I can see that the existence of a god would imply
the existence of an afterlife.
Vicki Rosenzweig
rosenzweig@acm.org