For me, it would be easy to create an angry indictment against organized religion. Evidence of religious conflict and abuse exists in almost every society throughout history. Modern examples include the pedophile priest scandal, the endless line of Islamists ready to blow themselves up in the market, the machete-wielding Nigerian slaughtering his neighbors, the junta beating monks in Myanmar, countries that have or want nuclear weapons and are ready to use them against the enemies of religions. The list is long. However, the purpose of this discussion is to get you thinking about the nature of religion and our willingness to accept it as a major influence in our lives. If you think that your type of religion is the only one that any sane person should embrace, please consider the fact that millions of people around the world subscribe to Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, atheism, Judaism, Bahia, Candomble, Jainism, Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormons, Paganism, Rastafari, Shintoism, Sikhism, Taoism, Unitarianism and Zoroastrianism. . Most of these people are sure that they have chosen the one true path. Personally, I prefer Unitarianism if I want to indulge, but that's because they welcome all, including agnostics. When it comes to matters of religion, I am a believer in the “faith is just another word for hope” school of thought. Faith, by definition, is a firm belief in something for which there is no evidence. In other words, just because you want to believe it doesn't make it true. So much religious rhetoric puts the crazy meter needle in the red zone that it is often hard to believe. Many people have chosen to ignore the rational or logical and instead accept the idea that ancient authors of various religious ideologies should...... middle of article... this is also ridiculous to have a 1300 year old argument by people of the same religion regarding the choice of their prophet as second in command. Most contemporary religions have more in common than they would ever be willing to admit. If God exists, is his ego so fragile that he demands to be worshipped? Is God so petty that he holds grudges? In the entire universe, would he just create a group of life forms and then obsess over their every thought and action? My conclusion is that this all seems an improbable truth, but if you really want some assurance, try to behave. To me, what's amazing is how much of ubiquitous religion in general is based on the fact that all its followers have to offer is a word of mouth story. whispered around the campfire a million, a million times. I guess there's something in basic human nature that makes us uncomfortable with unanswered questions and unknown futures..