Why should human life be measured by what good you do while you live? How is that any less arbitrary than to say life should be measured by God after you die? And there are plenty of atheists that believe life should be measured by the maximization of pleasure and enjoyment, not good. Or the pursuit of truth. Or the pursuit of beauty. There are many, many theories as to how one should value a human life, and absolutely none of them are empirically correct.
But in the case of the atheist, who's measuring, anyway? Post-death is a blank void. To the atheist, life has no "greater meaning" -- it is what it is. Meaning there is no value, except to the person living it. In which case, you choose your own meaning. And if that's the case, if you want to live a life devoted to religion, and that's what makes you happiest and most fulfilled, that's exactly what you should do. Whether or not that religion is valid.
The harsh anti-religion stance doesn't even stand up to atheist logic, which is the irony in the whole matter. Atheists believe there is no meaning and everyone should choose to live life the way they see fit, not the way some religion tells them to. You can live in pursuit of truth, justice, beauty, love, pleasure -- anything but God. Doesn't seem real logical to me. Theoretically speaking, the atheist should be more tolerant of religion than anyone.
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