To follow up on my observations of yesterday, I will note that contrary to what author Susan Jacoby insists, not all people who believe in God--and this, I should note, is a massively diverse group of people who do not deserve to be lumped into a single entity--focus on the next life only.  In fact, only a few do.  To insist that atheists are the only people who consider this life important overlooks that most people who believe in what I assume Ms. Jacoby means the "Christian" God believe that this same God pronounced the world good and that for this reason they should care for it and its people.  I'd like to think that regardless of our religious (or lack of) loyalities, we can all agree that for all its foibles, and irrespective of what we believe about what might be beyond it, the world remains, comprises, and encompasses the primary medium of human experience and responsibility.
     It's everyone's planet, everyone's vision:  we're all in this together.