chiral,

Your post reminds me that there is a difference between believing something merely because we wish it to be so, and responding to some invisible urging that comes from beyond ourselves. If matter is all there is, there is no reason to be bothered by death, disease, injustice, meaninglessness. But we are.

And I think you might be right. Scratch some church goers, and you might find some atheists. A few pastors even. I’m glad that God is separate from our statements or feelings about Him; otherwise He would indeed be merely created in our image.

I’m reminded of a saying: Truth is that which refuses to go away when I stop believing in it.