Thanks for taking the time to write such a thoughtful response. I went to a Catholic university and studied several religions as part of my B.S. and discovered nothing I can evenly loosely call evidence of the God described by Christians. There is some evidence that Jesus existed and lots of controversy over the Gospels (I have a book called The Gospel of Mary, which no Christian I’ve ever met has even heard of). But all of the New Testament was written by people who lived 80–100 years after Jesus was already dead, so the men who wrote them didn’t actually even meet Jesus or live during his lifetime.

Remember that game of telephone? It was funny because we couldn’t get past ten people without a simple sentence changing it’s meaning entirely. After 80–100 years, I’m guessing there’s a lot of guessing going on there.

What I’ve seen lots of evidence for is how man creates myths to explain the unexplained and how God in the Christian sense, is very human in his actions, ego and demands. To me this is a logical argument for religion as a panacea not a place where truth resides. And it’s just one I don’t need. But I do respect your right to believe.

I believe death is the end for each of us, but our energy remains and takes on another form. This is in line with the scientific fact that matter and energy cannot be created or destroyed.

Given that, as individuals, we process all these thoughts with brains that won’t function when we’re dead so I can’t believe that people transcend death in anyway that resembles who we are now.