Most people who have religion believe in an afterlife, and for most people that means death is not the end of their existence. Christians believe in Heaven and Hell, and they – like Muslims – all believe in some concept of an “eternal” life after physical death. This is both a blessing and a curse. ¹

I perceive time as finite insofar as we each have an allotment – the quantity of which we do not know – that inexorably and indiscriminately dwindles to zero. This scares a lot of people, and I would be lying if I said I was wholly comfortable with the concept of my own expiration. The difference is those with religion believe they get to cheat this clock. Whether a “true believer” dies tomorrow or in a century is simply immaterial, because the entire purpose of the exercise is to get to the other side. Buddhists believe in reincarnation, so they get a new bucket. It is filled with an unknown amount of water, and a hole is poked in the bottom. Rinse and repeat. Christians end up in a place where there is no spoon bucket to fill or empty. I have a tendency to get hung up on how we spend our time, but the average believer in any religion is drawing from a well that never goes dry. This has a profound effect on the way one approaches time. Religion makes people fundamentally more tolerant of delay.

The United States Congress is a perfect example of this. There is no other governing group that better exhibits a tolerance of delay, and with the lone exception of Pete Stark (D-CA), every elected member is a believer. ² In 2002, the USA Today covered a study which found that 18,000 working-age adults die every year because they were uninsured. 1,500 people will die during the month of August as Congress takes its annual recess, having failed to adequately cover the 45 million uninsured in the country today. Talk about comfortable with delay. ³

Life would probably be just a little bit better if we were a little more cognizant of the ephemeral nature of our lifespans. Everybody knows that they’ll die one day, but people usually wait until the end to make the realization that this means time isn’t infinite. There isn’t any right way to spend time, although I generally believe that time well spent is time spent pleasurably, across the board. Have fun at work. Have fun at home. Make money. Do what makes you happy. To me, that’s time well spent.

We – atheists and believers alike – can do each other a favor by recognizing that however we’re spending our time, costing another person time means costing that person a part of his or her life. Do unto others as you’d have them do unto you, and all that jazz.

1. Ha!
2. There are rumors of other atheists or agnostics, but Pete is the only one brave enough to own up to it.
3. It’s worth noting that this recess is more than twice the length of the average American’s vacation time. You know, the annual allotment most of us get to live however we choose.