Indeed, organizing atheists has been compared to herding cats, because they tend to think independently and will not conform to authority.

Yes, testosterone-sodden young men too unattractive to get a woman in this world might be desperate enough to go for 72 private virgins in the next.

Most people understand that sexual lust has to do with propagating genes. Copulation in nature tends to lead to reproduction and so to more genetic copies. But in modern society, most copulations involve contraception, designed precisely to avoid reproduction. Altruism probably has origins like those of lust.

I remember at the age of six regaling my poor little sister with stories about the planets, and how far away they were and which ones might have life.

Why would an all-powerful creator decide to plant his carefully crafted species on islands and continents in exactly the appropriate pattern to suggest, irresistibly, that they had evolved and dispersed from the site of their evolution?

I'm pretty sure there is some genetic component towards intelligence.

Religion is not the root of all evil, for no one thing is the root of all anything.