Originally Posted by Mr. Charlie

At it's deepest and truest level, religion is entirely a personal thing. Religion can be used for ill purpose, of course, for wars, politics, greed (send $10 save your soul, haha) but the fact that not every religious person is a fundamentalist or a moron or living according to backward principles means those things are not endemic of religion.

People can be silly and stupid and horrible with or without religion. You could kill a man based on naught but a silly belief. As could I. You could follow some weird set of principles. As could I (maybe I do already ). The point I'm trying to make is we don't need to become religious to succumb to our darker sides. The line separating good and evil ain't found between believers or non-believers, it runs through every human heart.

The funny thing is I was pretty anti-religious once upon a time myself. Not as fundamental as Richard Dawkins, but I couldn't see any good in religion. I thought they were all stupid people. But that's opinions for you, innit. They're no more permanent than the seasons. Certainly not worth bickering over. Maybe I'll hate religion again one day! It's possible.