Your points are reasonable. I styled this as a hyperbolic, black-and-white assault on religious ideologies like Christianity, but I fully acknowledge that on questions 6, 9 & 10 there is certainly some grey area. I would like to start by saying that I was a bit sloppy with my language on question 9: the words “accomplishes nothing” is meant to mean “does not alter the external world in any way.” I didn't mean to suggest that prayer is not useful for helping an individual to cope during a difficult time in their life, or to help them gain an appreciation for life. Comparing prayer with meditation is appropriate, as they can both be mental exercises used to come to terms with the world. I was really just addressing the idea of prayer used in this scenario: a woman prays that her husband's plane lands safely, it does, and the woman convinces herself that her prayer played a role. In regard to question 10, all statements made about the afterlife are statements of belief, not fact. Whether someone asserts that their spirit will float up to the clouds, or they will be reborn again in another physical body, or whether their consciousness disappears forever/worms eat their body. Nobody can say for sure, this is all speculation. The uncircled answer is question 10 is my view because I have not encountered any information which has swayed me to believe the contrary. Sure, in a time without surveillance cameras and social security numbers, Heaven/Hell would was probably a cutting edge method of keeping citizens in line. But you're right, belief in the afterlife is typically harmless, unless of course someone is promised 99 virgins if he flies a plane into a building...but those instances are quite rare.



In closing, is there a spiritual element to the natural world that is beyond human perception? Maybe, maybe not, I can't answer that with any degree of certitude. But religious ideologies which teach people WHAT to think instead of HOW to think are my enemy, and it is my sworn duty to treat them harshly. For the record, I am not an atheist, in fact I am the complete opposite: a pantheist. On that note, I would like to thank you for challenging me on aspects of this design, and I hope my response adequately addressed your concerns.