The religious discussion is really very OT.  No one knows why humans
developed religion, and tracing it to dogs is scetchy at best.

My view is that at some point we gained enough self-absorption to
believe we
can't die forever--that we must go on somehow.  Enter religion.
Religion and
death are very closely related.

These beliefs (solely MINE and not subject to debate) came about
through
post-suicide attempt contemplation.  I saw no bright light.  I simply
ceased
to exist until I was revived.  Is there a heaven, hell, rebirth, MORE?
The
logical conclusion is, No.  When the brain quits, that's it.   Ask
almost
anyone and they will say Yes.  There has to be.  We cannot believe we
are
flesh and bones and able to rot after we die due to our soul, that
which may
or may not exist beyond our large, quite organic brains.  Does who we
are
come from our brains or from some metaphysical origin?  No one can say
for
sure.

My father is a brilliant physicist and devoutly religious.  He
believes that
the world, in all its intricacies, can't have been pure accident.

Where religion would keep someone from becoming suicidal, the belief
that we
do NOT go on has kept me alive.  But it does not keep me from the
quite human
inability to contemplate complete obliteration, at least for longer
than a
few hours.

Denise
(I'm much better now.  Really.)