[Restrikted]

I've always questioned this whole "religion" thing. I'm not sure what percentage of Earth's population believes in a higher power, but I know that it's a lot. There are, in my opinion, only two reasons for this.
1) They are correct, plain and simple. But this raises the question, which religion is correct? Surely they can't all be correct, because they are different. But maybe they are correct in the fact that a higher power Does exist.
2) They know they are going to die, so they make up these gods and worship them, so that they can live forever.

Personally, I think #2 is correct, it makes more sense to me.

So really, what is so hard to believe about the fact that "we are not special, we are not beautiful and unique snowflakes," we are just alive, like bugs, or mice, but smarter, and we just die like everything else on this Earth?

That pretty much sums up my question, but if you feel like reading more of my ranting, continue reading.

I was talking to a devout Christian about 1 1/2 weeks ago, and we were debating religion, the meaning of life, Pascals Wager, life on other planets, etc. It seemed like he couldn't answer a lot of my questions, and would just turn to the idea that God wanted it this way. But I really respect him because he said to never stop asking questions, not to follow a religion blindly, and not to just take what is put in front of you.

Here are some of my questions that maybe some of you can answer.

There are, what, roughly 70 sextillion stars (Google'd it) in our universe? What are the odds that there is not even one that is like Earth, or at least has life? Plus, we already discovered that there is a planet that may be like Earth, and it is pretty close to us. I think it is pretty safe to say that there are other planets out there that have life on them, even if it is not "intelligent" life. My question is, if this is true, what makes Earth so special? I think we aren't. Also, if there is life on other planets, do they have religion? If so, do they have Christianity, or do they believe in the Flying Spaghetti Monster? To prove Christianity correct, the other planets would also have to have Christianity. Also, a great deal of the Bible deals with what happened when Jesus was walking the Earth. Was Jesus also on the other planets?

I like to take into consideration what Erin Pavlina said (I think it was her). She was talking about living your life with love, compassion, and friendship. Would you rather live your life that way, or believe in God, and not necessarily be a good person? If Heaven really does exist, would God rather let in the person that believes in him, or the person that is a truly good person? If he would exclude the good person, I'm not so sure I would want to be in that heaven.

Also, are there different heavens for every religion? This kind of goes back to the question of which religion is correct? If you believe in this god, but that god is really the correct one, would you go to that heaven even though you didn't believe in that one?

Whew...A bunch of my random, and I mean random, questions. Answer what you will.