I tend to think of the idea of God as a campfire...a "creation" that we can all sit around and stave off the creatures of the night and get a sense of communal warmth from (religion has given people who would otherwise be distrustful or even openly hostile to each other a reason to hold hands and NOT draw their swords)...another comparison I could draw from is the old Grange Hall: a place for the farm community (scattered all over the then open space called the world and living a very solitary existence) to come together in friendship...then the only place where they didn't need the ritual of religion to draw close. Now we live right next to each other and STILL might not talk to our neighbors,but I'm digressing: what I mean to say is that humanity seems to not need a campfire so much anymore, therefore I think the concept (and I do beleive that God is a "concept" only) is a bit redundant...I agree that we as a species will miss our rituals, but we will get over it, all the while continuing as we have before, killing one another through ENDLESS conflicts and working really hard to keep those conflicts at bay...contradictory? No, face it: we give ourselves as a species FAR more credit than we deserve: just look at the animals we have evolved from and tell me about how peacefully they coexist. I will say one thing: if we ever stop being so dam arrogant as a species BEFORE we blow ourselves up or poison ourselves or overpopulate ourselves to starvation, there might be a chance that we could "make it" (at least for a while). But please let's not talk about afterlife: you don't get a second chance ..."it is what it is' and PLEASE enjoy your life while you have it. I bid you peace and friendship:Man must be responsible for his own actions and morality...counting on an outside force such as religion or government is really not the best idea mankind has ever had.