Never make unsupportable assumptions about your enemies, Martin. It can be a fatal self-indulgence. - Dan Simmons

I could not do this, I realized, if I were immortal. This degree of love of life and of one another is granted, I saw for once and for ever, not to immortals, but to those who live briefly and always under the shadow of death and loss.

After fifty-five years of dedicating his life and work to the story of ethical systems, Sol Weintraub had come to a single, unshakable conclusion: any allegiance to a deity or concept or universal principal (sic) which put obedience above decent behavior toward an innocent human being was evil.

My own guess is that it’s a myth fueled by the same hunger for superstitious verities that drives other religions.