Alright, so I am a first-time poster here, so I do not know how much this topic has been talked about and i'm not planning on reading 88 pages worth of posts, so here goes:
So my grandparents recently died around the same time, and I was always really close to them and I took it pretty hard. I have been a closeted atheist since I was a kid but I really believed strongly in disbelief (no pun intended). Anyways, I always thought that if I was ever put in a situation where somebody close to me died, I would turn to religion. You know, hope that they are in a better place, and pray for them. But when they died, it almost made me my atheism grow even stronger. I sort of came to terms that maybe, just maybe, nothing happens when you die. This realization made me feel relieved and depressed at the same time. Now i'm not sure what to believe in. On one side, I hope there is a heaven and when I die everything would be perfect and that i'll be with my loved ones. But on the other side, I know that's just wishful thinking and science proves its more then likely false. I guess it's a "hope for the best, prepare for the worst" type of situation.
anyways, did any of you guys go through a similar problem or realization? Really curious to hear what full-fledged atheists believe.