religion: all articles

As everyone seems intent on preaching the word of some god, I'd figure I'd jump on the band wagon to see what kind of reaction I receive. So here goes:

As far as I'm concerned (and don't forget, this is a democracy, so my opinion is as valid as anyone else's), the idea of worship is insulting and pointless. Taking the body and blood of Christ, religiously motivated circumcision, praying numerous times a day to Mecca, headscarves, crucifixes, Allah, Jehova, etc. It's pointless. If there really was some powerful being ruling over us, do you really think he'd care about what puny humans did? Or whether they would be so self-centred to create something in their image?? Come on, people. So far all religion has done is cause conflict and ignorance, with only a few shining examples - individual (and sometimes groups of) people who were as intent on doing good things for others as they were on praying.

There is an old saying, “To err is human, but to really mess things up, we need a computer”. To that word of wisdom, we might add “or religion”. Religion adds another dimension to conflict. If we are going to have a fight, we must perceive a distinction between us and our enemy. This distinction may be on that basis of any attribute we can think of - skin colour, dwelling place, or economic status, but religion is the best reason of all for a punch-up because religion defines our existence not just in time, but for all eternity. This sometimes gives us access to superhuman courage, as when martyrs chose death by burning rather than to deny their beliefs, and also, sadly, access to superhuman cruelty at other times.