I believe:
Life is a mirror with two faces. One is Futility and the other is Distraction. The only importance in life is living on the edge between the two, the creation of Beauty.
Futility, because we understand that we are going to die. Distraction, which is the pursuit of activities to relieve us of the feeling of Futility. Religion serves the same purpose, in a different way. But those who believe that there aren’t any gods or if there are, they are not interested in the lives of each man and that there is no afterlife, are not given that different way. (Epicurious expressed this philosophy way before the time of Christ.)
(I’m an agnostic, not an atheist, because I can’t figure out how there could be nothing, and then there could be something, even if it was a quark. Unless of course you believe there has been something for all eternity. That’s too long a time for me.)
Beauty is true in all its definitions, whether composing a great symphony or giving love. Doing good in particulars, as Blake admonished. Being a real friend.
Only the creation of beauty can create happiness. Not power, rank or wealth. Or even sanctity, unless it is humanistic.
So, in fact, the religious and non-religious do come together in modern Christians and Jews, and in non-believers who focus on being good people, even though their motivation may be different. Or perhaps they are not so different. Some years ago, I told a Rabbi that I had difficulty believing in God. He said, he understood, but perhaps God was the good in each of us. That is the creation of Beauty.