I'd say at this point in my life, it's very important. My wife died of cancer seven years ago, and during the last year of her life, she went back to the Catholic church. Previously, we had both been secular humanists and Buddhists to one degree or another. I do not wish to repeat the agonizing discussions of belief in an afterlife that we had during that time. It hurt her that I didn't believe we'd see each other again, but I wasn't going to lie, either. She was an intelligent woman, and she would have seen through it. I fear, however, that here in the mid-South, there aren't many women in my age bracket who have similar (non)beliefs as my own, so like you, I'm preparing to spend the rest of my life alone.