Livre d'Or

I definitely think it's harmful forcefully to tell someone who's just lost half their family in a disaster or is worrying about whether they're still alive that there is no life but this one, if there's even the slightest chance that the belief in an afterlife reunion is part of what's holding that person together in the moment.

But mostly I think you're being tremendously arrogant about deciding what someone who is in immediate pain needs. Deciding that someone in crisis 'needs' to have their religious belief extinguished as much or more than they need the crisis to be addressed is exactly the same as deciding that someone in crisis 'needs' Jesus before they get help.

See, what matters isn't whether or not you are 'right' (especially since we can't prove it either way); what matters is that you're ignoring the person's more immediate need for emotional comfort/food/shelter/help connecting with loved ones (i.e. what they asked for) in favour of their current 'belief system' (i.e. what you think they need).

And yes, initially we were talking about arguments online, but part of the problem with that is that you don't actually know who you are arguing with. I'm pretty sure the person I got into it with about 'prayer' online the other day doesn't know that I am worried about a number of people I know who live around the Tokyo area that I have lost touch with but was once close to.