<sup>People often justify their religious beliefs, not as a result of logical conclusions drawn from rational thought, but by saying it is inconceivable that our lives have no purpose or meaning!

Their religious purpose involves “faith” that somewhere up in the sky is a supreme being who created our 28 billion light-year diameter universe. Then of all the countless trillions of Earth-like planets that astronomers tell us almost certainly exist, god chose our little planet to create life. Then, through divine inspiration, god caused a book to be written that contains rules which we human beings must obey. If we adhere to these rules as interpreted by our particular religion, after we die we are given some kind of afterlife in paradise. Failure to follow these rules will result in our being punished for all eternity in a fiery pit.</sup>

^{Well, if this story is true then we definitely do have a purpose in life: do as your religious leaders tell you and do NOT investigate other religions that have a different set of rules!}

^{Most religions view our lives as just a test, a preparation for the hoped-for reward of paradise after death. This view devalues human life terribly. Religious people’s heads are full of worries about guilt and sin and whether or not they are complying with the rules! How sad. How tragic that so many people allow religion to manipulate and oppress them so.}

^{If you must have a purpose in life beyond perpetuating your species, how about this SMART one:}

^{Through processes that we don’t yet fully understand we human beings have (hopefully) a few years of life before we return to the stardust from which we came. When you consider the events that needed to conspire to cause our individual lives to begin, every human being alive is the equivalent of a national lottery winner a hundred times over! The SMART reaction to this is one of breath-taking wonderment and appreciation of just how lucky we are, and it inspires a determination to make the most out of every minute we have alive.}

^{With this liberating attitude it is not difficult to find a useful purpose in life. Do something, anything, to help make this world a better place for future generations! Use your time and/or money to help those less fortunate than yourself. Be a chink of light to religious people whose minds are not yet completely closed. Help them to appreciate that there is a better way to live – a way that doesn’t involve fear or coercion or the abandonment of rational thought.}

^{For centuries religion has had a pervasive and oppressive influence on all mankind. What better purpose in life could there be in helping people free themselves from that oppression!}