While I'm not particularly religious, I've been born and raised in a very staunch religious community and would like to know more about atheism. The only atheist I've personally met was a coworker a few years back who "lost" his faith during his four year tour in Iraq. He told me, "Praying to God is like sending a wish list to Santa when you're 30. You can hope it comes true all you want, but really, no one is going to do shit about it."

Now I don't want to get into some existential debate on whether God exists or not, I was just curious to personal philosophies about atheism. I suppose my biggest question for any atheists out there would be whether or not you'd like there to be some divine being out there? Even if you are certain there isn't a God, would you prefer that there was one? Or are you happy and comfortable without being boxed in by dogma and all the pretentious bullshit of church?

Anyway, I was just curious and would like any input or comments on this subject to kind of see life from a different point of view.