First of all, giving up an active belief in a god is incredibly liberating. It's given me the feeling of having real control over my life and being able to be proactive about it. I feel less like a puppet who's having it's strings pulled. While I doubt I will ever take the strong atheist position I am confident in my belief that there is no god or if there is it is a god who is ambivilent or even unconcious of our existence. I suppose this makes me more of an agnostic. Eh, labels...
I just think if I believed there is no life after death, I would be freaked out.
This doesn't bother me at all. This too has made me feel more free. It makes me value the time I have in this life. When I die I'll be unconcious and won't really care. I refuse to spend my life storing up favors with some invisible deity when I could be out enjoying what time I do have. Lest you think I have no moral compass, I am an extremly kind, empathetic person who goes out my way to help others.
I find organized religion morally repugnant. I respect people's right to believe whatever they wish but, most religions, not all, have agenda's and are a great cause of suffering. I was an almost straight A student and I nearly failed Biology due to Creationist brainwashing. Why? Religion. This was not a catastrophic event in my life but it's a small, anecdotal example of the power of religion.
~Aztec