All explorations and investigations of the universe are consistent with the fact of it being infinitely rich and deep. The simplest hypothesis is therefore to accept that the universe is actually infinitely rich and deep. But neither atheists nor traditionally religious people accept this: the latter box in the universe with religious dogma, and the former box in the universe with science (which is always a finite approximation of an infinite universe). Perhaps it is because human beings much prefer to live in comfortable walled gardens and keep out the scary monsters of infinity? The following poem explains this attitude (with respect to the book Gödel, Escher, Bach, but it also applies to many other books):

Douglas Hofstadter, pudding and pie,
Kissed the integers and made them cry.
But when the infinities came out to play,
Douglas Hofstadter ran away.

In this respect, aren't you just as scared of infinity as traditionally religious people? PS, more examples of this attitude are on the page The Glib Reductionists.

It is clear, from study of philosophy, that we have no proof that the world exists. So even the most fervent atheist, if he/she assumes that the world exists, must take this on *faith*. This atheist can go further, and assume that fellow humans exist, assume that physical laws exist, and assume that there is some order in the universe. Most do so. What this means, is that *almost all* human beings have a strong faith. This seems to not be different from the faith of religion in quality or strength, only in details. The question of whether or not there is a personal God is a straw man; the real question is whether our faith in existence is justified. So my question is, doesn't this mean that almost all humans are religious? Even you are religious in this sense, right?

Like Douglas Hofstadter and John Searle, Raymond Kurzweil and his buddies are just a bit too glib in jumping over infinities in their breathless thought experiments.