Quote of the day

We parents of young kids think that our children are the most precious things in the world, but it seems that, at least statistically, few other adults want them. 

 -  Philip Greenspun

Nature abhors a vacuum

From "News of the Weird"

An atheist "church" in Lake Charles, La., run by lapsed Pentecostal Jerry DeWitt, conducts periodic services with many of the trappings expected by the pious -- except for the need to believe in a supreme being.

Such "churches" (reported The New York Times and Washington Post in coincidental stories the same day in June) can help soothe the "biological" needs for survival and avoidance of loneliness by congregational rituals (such as celebrating a sabbath) and in helping find meaning "in something other than (oneself)."

For example, atheist Sigfried Gold praised a "rigorous prayer routine" (beseeching a "vivid goddess he created") in overcoming his weight problem. [New York Times, 6-24-2013; Washington Post, 6-24-2013]

It's difficult to imagine the personal pain or trauma that would cause somebody to reject God, and then make up a new god to fill the void that's left.  You picture mothers who abandon their babies and then start playing with rag dolls.