Religion: Post I

I'll let you know from the beginning; I am an atheist. I have some fairly strong views on religion, and the subject of it fascinates me.

First of all, I don't quite get the point of it. In older times, it was used to explain phenomenon such as lightning, earthquakes, and provide something to look forward to after a crappy mortal life. Now, we can understand these phenomenon from a scientific standpoint. We can live much better lives these days, with many freedoms.

If you think religion is comforting or provides a backbone to rely on when a tragedy occurs, I think you could look to other sources for this. Family and friends can provide a great support system; hell, post your issues on a self-help forum, such as http://forum.psychlinks.ca/. If you want, post something here, and I'll give you some good person-to-person advice. A one-way communication with an invisible being in the sky just doesn't do it for me.

I am not against any specific religion. Just religion in general. It starts wars (Israel/Palestine), creates stereotypes and other hatreds, and turns people who are perfectly logical and intelligent into those who seem slightly less so.

I was influenced by "Religulous" and www.atheists.org.