There are some things about which I am quite sure.
There is no "God". Taking the definition of "God" as omniscient, omnipotent, and good, the Existence of Evil argument shows "God" is impossible by definition, since there is great evil in the world and any being that is able to intervene to prevent the most horrible things imaginable happening to the most innocent creatures, but does not, cannot be good. End of subject.
I assume that I am able to perceive the world freely subject to the limitations of my senses and my mind. I am not a brain in a vat being fed perceptions or having my thoughts manipulated, the object of some great conspiracy. Anything else would be inherently unverifiable because my senses and mind are my only means of judging Truth, yet these are the very things that would need to be proven unreliable.
Extravagance and wastefulness are immoral. In a world without pain, this would not be true, but this is a world in which there is great suffering, and the resources under your control could be used to mitigate the suffering of innocent creatures. To use your resources for trivial and unnecessary things implies that the suffering of innocent creatures is less important than indulging your every whim. The typical human thus serves his gluttony by either being ignorant of the pain of others or by rationalizing that pain using some fatuous ideology such as religion.
Religious people are cowards because they are willing to sacrifice their moral and intellectual integrity for the sake of the illusion of eternal life. However scary a final death may be, there is ultimately a greater price to be paid for living without integrity. The freedom to think without fear and the confidence to express your own moral sense are indispensible requirements of your own mental health and for guiding you in your relations with others.
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