Is there anything else when we shuffle off this mortal coil? (From The Argus)

Sadly it's a taboo talk about death in our western society. And we all will benefit if some kind of preparation for that moment were available.

A serious question; when atheists die(specially the ones concern so much with religious matters), will their last thoughts will be denying God??

FIRSTLY -- a comment on your question:

Maybe, at school, you learned some elementary chemistry? ... that when an atom of the gas oxygen combines with two atoms of hydrogen (another gas), the product is NOT a gas, but a liquid we all drink and use every day -- water. If you had to write an essay describing what 'water' is, it's most probable that you'd talk about its 'wetness' and the uses that derive therefrom as being more important than its chemical composition. One of the first experiments I remember doing as a school kid in the science laboratory was using electricity to break water down into its two gases -- oxygen and hydrogen (there was nothing else left!).

Now when we young scholars finished up with our two test tubes of oxygen and hydrogen, we NEVER asked the question, "where has the 'wetness' gone?"; no one needed explain to us that the property 'wetness' belonged to the compound 'water' only ---when that compound was reduced to its basic components, 'wetness' , related to THOSE atoms in compound, no longer existed.

The human body is built up of many more different elements than 'water' --- but, in the same way as described in my early experiment, when we break down the compound, the 'characteristics' associated with that compound, don't "go anywhere", Anne-Marie, they just cease to exist !

SECONDLY: Let's just imagine that your misguided (but natural) "hope" for a post-mortem existence are a possibility. Assume that you and I, and every other living thing, continue to exist (as some sort of 'spirit'?) after death. Presumably, the same 'hope' can be expected for every other human being -- present and past. But, why stop there. Our work in genetics today enables us to build up massive 'trees', showing the relationships between all forms of life to one another -- not only does our 'tree' now incorporate all humans, but also our bonds with predecessors ('near men?'), other primates, all other 'living creatures', millions of species/plants populating our lovely earth.

Anne-Marie, if ALL humans have a 'purpose beyond this mortal coil' and and have a spiritual existence beyond the grave (i.e. following their physical disintegration), why not our pet dogs (so 'human', as their owners often report), why not every octopus (a much more 'intelligent' form of being than a dog) ... every oyster? Blow flies? Many plants, like the Venus fly trap-- have the equivalent of a 'nervous system' (hence the operation of the 'trap' apparatus -- where will you draw the line -- do all forms of life have some sort of post-mortem existence? If not, why not?

AND FINALLY: It would apparently upset you NOT to continue living after "life's brief span". Are you depressed by having missed out on the glories of ancient Rome? Does it upset you NOT to have been around when Napoleon crowned himself at Notre Dame cathedral ? Why not be satisfied with what you have -- and spend your life (this -- your ONLY life) trying to make it a better world, rather than hope for "pie in the sky, when you die"? What a selfish, shallow philosophy you seem to hold with !

My own hope is that their is no afterlife and that when I am done thats it.
Enjoy what you have now as it is probably all their is.