most of my good friends are Christian, some are on the fence, some are complete atheists. We can all still sit around the bbq and have a meal and a laugh. As long as you are not a dick and imposing your beliefs on anyone else, we all get along and will help each other out, I find creationism really weird, Even the staunchest of Christians I know accept evolution as fact and consider it the plan of god, with the 7day creation more of a allegory or to be taken as 7 god-days which could be a lifetime and consider the process akin to a miracle. South African Christian creationists are rare. What is actually more common especially in my area (Kwazulu natal) with many Zulu an xhosa people is an amalgamation of Zulu traditions (your ancestors are looking over you and can intervene in your daily life being the main difference. Zulu culture is super interesting start here to find out more Think about these people some only 400 years ago, there were no missionaries here ten and believed that your spirit left the body, if you are a good person, it can become a powerful ancestor to carry on looking down on the tribe. There is no God here, not a Christian one anyway, and was the same throughout Africa, the Americas and anywhere beside where the people of Abrahamic religions had been able to spread the story of their religion (often by fore of the leadership at the time). What happened is what is currently going on with the Zulu people, they adapted Christianity to fit the people of the times current belief system, adding on equinox and solstice celebrations (Christmas and easter were celebrated at these times to help transition in Christianity) before, all these people were, according to Christian doctrine, effectively atheist. have all the billions of them gone to burn in hell for not being born in the post 1500's and outside of the middle east/Europe? the world is a lot bigger than your corner, some things will shock you at what other people believe, not even neccesarily about religion but life in general, but its my belief that as long as you follow the basic moral principles that all people follow, you can live a good life and be happy. I believe there is not god, no afterlife, Its a very scary and dark place to be, but I don't need my religious comfort blanket. Im not scared of the boogeyman, only my own fear of not living up to my own moral code and standing up for what I believe is right while also accepting that if the belief that I have is not agreed with by omeone else, as long as the other belief is not hurting anyone, that that is actually none of my business and to let people be. We are all just people afterall.

I hope /u/morgan4him that you can look for yourself at what is true and what is people doing things out of fear. Fear of anything, but mainly fear of the unknown of not, fear of death and fear of not being certain and steadfast that your world is safe and that there is more later if this one doesn't quite live up to the expectations. If you feel you need to walk with your god, then live well doing that, but I hope you can also see that we are all just people, no matter your belief in the afterlife or your superstitions, (There is a very widely held Zulu belief that if you touch a frog, you ill be struck by lightning. The storms here get pretty intense and people died of lightning a lot still. It sounds crazy but I have met many who genuinely believe it in their heart to be true), that no matter what your compass looks like, everyone deserves a little tolerance and understanding, a little kindness and respect.