Actually, we do have something better to offer. We can offer a shot at an authentic existence.
And we wouldn't be taking anything from you. It would be a gift.
To the believer, the secular humanist says rise from your knees, cease groveling and calling yourself an unworthy worm, shed magical thinking, and stand up proudly like the bipedal ape you were born to be.
Shed the comforting but disabling swaddling of religious belief, and look out into the universe, which may be almost empty, and which may contain no gods at all.
That may be terrifying to the person who has never tried it, but if you're still young and adaptable enough, the existential crisis will pass, and a new and enabling sense of self and ones place in the scheme of things will emerge.
Face and accept the very real possibility that we may be all there is for light years, and that things don't get better if we don't make them better.
Accept that you may be vulnerable and not watched over.
Accept the likelihood of your own mortality and finititude.
Accept the reality of your insignificance everywhere but earth, and that you might be unloved except by some of those around you.
Because as far as we know, that's how it is.
Religious belief is infantilizing. It maintains one in a state of submission, dependency, and magical thinking. It maintains a childish sense of right and wrong, which is basically about obtaining rewards and avoiding punishment at the hand of a judgmental overseer. You can't fully mature if the baby sitter never leaves, or if the cop is always in the rear view mirror.
A theist with such beliefs can never know the ineffable joy of doing good for goodness sake, with no expectation that anyone will ever know what good you did or reward you for it. He's always looking to an authority figure for approval.
When I pull over on a rural road to save a turtle crossing it, I know that nobody will ever know or care except me. There was nobody there in that corner of the universe to take responsibility for that creature's well-being, so I do.
That's as close to a godlike experience as you can get. It's not the same if one believes that a cosmic eye in the sky is always watching, judging, tracking who is naughty or nice, and tallying reward and punishment.
So, it's worth making the effort to learn to face reality without such religious beliefs. Only then can you proceed to maturity, autonomy, authenticity, and self-actualization.
I just did - the hope for an authentic existence.
Yes, I disagree.
Red blood cells contain hemoglobin, which binds oxygen in the pulmonary capillaries and releases it to the peripheral tissues. More RBCs means more oxygen carrying capacity. When we moved from sea level to a mile high community, my hematocrit, which is the fraction of a centrifuged column of blood that is the red cells under the yellowish serum above it, rose about 10% to compensate for the lower oxygen content of the ambient air.
Why do you suppose that that happened if not to restore the oxygen carrying capacity of my blood? More red cell mass per cc of blood at a lower degree of saturation can restore the oxygen content of that blood to sea level status.
I'm concerned there is something wrong with you.
