<p>well.....to have a religion, you do not really need to be convinced. It is more based on faith on the supreme being and things that the religion teaches. Scientifically, religion does not really make sense. But then again, science does not always make sense and nothing ever does. And, I can just imagine myself in your situation. People are usually what religion their parents are</p>
<p>You know I feel pretty much the same way as the OP a lot of the time. It is so depressing to realize life has no meaning. Which is why I describe myself as a nihilist pretending to be a secular humanist. The nihilists are right. And there are a good many people who know this but would never call themselves nihilists. Of course, saying that nihilists are right does not imply that one acts based on their nihilism. Humans are compassionate and empathic by their very nature. We are given pleasure by our biology and are impelled to care about others and to create beneficial things for the community merely by having 46 chromosomes. There is no choice in the matter on our part, unless we have a rare genetic dysfunction where we lose our conscience. A normal healthy person is not going to live as if their life is meaningless, even if they realize that it is. This is part of the duplicity of the human mind. We have a rational mind that can come to observe the absurdity of our own biological impulses and yet still derive pleasure from those impulses and seek them out concurrently. I agree with Vonnegut, we need to make a pleasant lie. I have my own, primarily based on Zen Buddhism and high doses of caffeine. When the catastrophic weight of reality comes crashing down in my consciousness I have an escape hatch. In ways I credit my religious past, and my amazing propensity for dissociation to formulate this escape hatch which has certainly been useful at preventing an anxiety disorder. Others are not so lucky.</p>
<p>Of course, I don't actually believe in the escape hatch (for Christ sake!). But if I didn't pretend to at times, I'd surely go insane.</p>
<p>I dunno. I mean, I'm an atheist, but as to morals and whatnot, I'm probably one of the more "religious" people out there: I keep with my faith, albeit it's one for and in myself. It's given me a tremendous sense of purpose, my purpose.</p>
<p>I've more dismissed the relavance in the existance or non-existance of God. If he exists, and I'm wrong, well, fine. I've aspired to be a good person, and if I'm punished for that, then he wasn't worth woshipping in the first place.</p>
<p>It's a very "does it really matter?" viewpoint.</p>
<p>And so it goes.</p>