It is simply not true that atheists, because of their convictions and their worldview, are as a group more depressed than believers. - Eric Maisel

I hope that our discussion of meaning-making and ethics-making has made it clear why we must stand firm in disputing god-talk: god-talk is at once a betrayal of our common humanity and a barrier to both meaning and ethics. That is not to say that you rise up in arms when you are visiting your parents’ home for dinner and grace is said or that you leap into the fray every time you hear some piety uttered. No one has the time or the energy for such vigilance, and no one wants to become a pariah. But you do need to pick some fights and then fight them. If you are upholding values such as justice, reason, fairness, equity, and decency—if these inform the meaning and the ethics that you make—then you are obliged to stand up to god-talk at least occasionally.

We need atheism to grow as a movement because we need to remove the god card from the hands of the selfishly self-interested.

Before you can make meaning, an odd kind of election process must occur. You must nominate yourself as the meaning-maker in your life and as the hero of your own story. Then you must consciously elect yourself to that position.