The Secret to the Meaning of Life (for only $11.99 +S&H)

When someone like Rick Warren, author of a (somehow) nationally well-received book, The Purpose Driven Life: What on Earth am I Here For?, states that the secret meaning to life is to serve and obey god (the Christian one, of course), from where did they derive that information? What life are they talking about? All of life, or just the modern homo sapiens? Did homo neanderthalensis or homo erectus have the privilege of being god's creations, made for god's intention to have a species serve him (again, the Christian one)? Or were they failed experiments? Or perhaps just too boring?

Do these people who believe that the meaning of life is to be their god's slave get this information from the bible? Or did their god conveniently speak to them in private, far away from other people's ears? In either case, it seems this "hidden" meaning of life -- specifically the life of those species capable of conscious self-awareness -- must stand trial and answer some pretty basic questions in order to hold any credibility.

1. How reliable is the source of the claim (the claim being that the meaning of life is to serve and obey the Christian god)?
2. Does this source often make similar claims?
3. Have the claims been verified by another source?
4. How does this fit with what we know about the world & how it works?
5. Has anyone, including and especially the claimant, gone out of their way to disprove the claim, or has only confirmatory evidence been sought?
6. In the absence of clearly defined proof, does the preponderance of evidence converge to the claimant's conclusion, or a different one?
7. Is the claimant employing the accepted rules of reason and tools of research (i.e. - scientific method), or have these been abandoned in favor of others that lead to the desired conclusion?
8. Has the claimant provided a different explanation for the observed phenomena, or is it strictly a process of denying the existing explanation?
9. If the claimant has proffered a new explanation, does it account for as many phenomena as the old explanation?
10. Do the claimants' personal beliefs and biases drive the conclusions, or vice versa?
(Thank you, Michael Shermer, for this very useful list)

The fact that so many U.S. citizens slurp this condescending and questionable information up like so many Catholic priests at an altar boy field trip is ridiculous. Take two minutes to question the origin of this information, and you'll likely find that an overall, ultimate "meaning of life" is a bullshit concept to begin with, let alone that any answer given by someone who is clearly biased in their perspective (or is trying to make bank on a half-assed-written self-help book) is probably going to be full of shit as well.