Religion never thinks things through. Ever. At anytime. Instead of spending their incredible wealth and giving it to the poor like they claim to be doing, they buy and build enormous Churches and Cathedrals.

Recently I have been getting more and more leery of Religion. That in and of itself isn't anything surprising, but I have come to the rather disturbing, but expected conclusion that religion as a whole is detrimental to society and humankind. Why do I think this? For many reasons.First off, what is religion? It is the belief in and worship of a superhuman controlling power, esp. a personal God or gods. At least, that is what the major religions could be looked at, and what Google tells us- anything else is just semantics.So here you have 7 Billion people, and a good deal of that population believes- without proof, evidence, anything of that nature- in an all-powerful being. Once again, no evidence, not the slightest bit of supporting information to that outrageous claim. Extraordinary claims need to be met with extraordinary evidence, after all, and religion had NO evidence to speak of. (Well, except a crying statue, but we'll get to that in a moment) Why is this disturbing? Why is it not disturbing that there are roughly 2.1 Billion Christians out there, or 1.5 Billion Islamist Muslims? There are also more than 600 thousand Rastafarians, and Scientology has 500 thousand adherents. These numbers are deeply disturbing to me, and they should also deeply affect you as well.Because, what (the hell) could possibly cause someone to believe in Scientology? And more that 500k people, to boot! If you haven't heard of scientology, then let me be the first to tell you that you are better off not knowing, but since athiesm is all about knowing.... I will tell you that is is some fucking crazy shit. The very first line from Wikipedia talks about Xenu- Scientology's crazy God:'"Xenu, also spelled Xemu, was, according to the founder of Scientology L. Ron Hubbard , the dictator of the " Galactic Confederacy " who, 75 million years ago, brought billions of his people to Earth (then known as " Teegeeack ") in a DC-8-like spacecraft, stacked them around volcanoes and killed them using hydrogen bombs. Official Scientology scriptures hold that the essences of these many people remained, and that they form around people in modern times, causing them spiritual harm."'This is for real. I do not know how many scientologists actually believe in this sh*t, or how many are in it for the money, but if even a third of the 500k+ believers are legitimately into this, then we have a problem.Scientologits commit rape, torture, bribery, theft, etc, as well as enforcing a strict diet among its members, taxing them for being a part of the religion, and oppressing any conflicting views.Not only that, but the IRA does not tax the Church of Scientology- so, in the U.S, it is almost a legitimate religion. Which is insane.And how different is this from Christianity, or Islam? Not at all. I would even say that for all of the pathological acts that Scientology has committed, Christianity, Islam, and Judaism are responsible for much more strife. But the Middle Ages, the placebo treatments, the systematic rape of children, the Crusades, numerous terrorist attacks, sexism, bigotry, racism, murder, delusion, intolerance, ignorance, and a multitude of things that would take too long to name aren't enough- they have to restrict progress. Science is outstripping the appeal if religion year by year, but religion is fighting back this horrible thing, called progress- innovation, and invention from reaching its full potential.The world could have been hundreds more years advanced by now if it weren't for religion holding the truly brilliant minds back from widespread recognition. For every discovery made, there are probably 100 more that got smothered at birth by the oppressive presence of organized religion. Christianity in particular fights stem cell research and abortion, claiming that we are harming life. And I say, "Really?" I rather think that I would rather a fetus die than someone I know, who had time to develop and grow into a bright and intellectual human being. But no- religion values sperm more, a fetus more, than the living- ignoring how many REAL lives could be saved with the resulting advances.And, of course, 70-year old virgins are definitely the people who I would listen to about the Vagina. But I digress- the point is, that for humanity to alter its condition, it must first dispose of the disease, the paralyzing agent which is religion. For religion suppresses the mind, dulls the senses, and allows grave misconduct to permeate throughout the world, all with the justification of pleasing some invisible, intangible, inaudible higher power that they just know exists.I have religious friends. Some aren't bad people. But a lit of them are, and those that are half-way decent human beings aren't all that bright, because from birth to adult-hood they have been indoctrinated into believing that Jesus will save then, or that if he doesn't, they will go to hell. For all eternity. Because God is fair like that.I say that we should take our chances with science rather than with religion- there are millions of Gods and Goddesses- and even if on of then was to be the true God, he or she would be impossible to find, let alone determine what this God wants, needs, or thinks of us. The chance of us actually getting the God right, much less all of those aforementioned extra doctrines and policies, is much less than 0.0000000011%. And if that is so, then what, pray tell, is the point of restricting human advances? What is the price you are willing to pay?Religion reminds me of a man willing to gamble all he has, including his car, home, money, everything, for that chance of making it big. Because religion is ultimately a selfish product of our imagination. For what else could one call heaven other than the hopeful delusions of a hopeless man?Science, and man, (not God!) has given us the tools to overcome out ignorance and rise above this primal want for eternal bliss that religion falsely promises. We can be better than this- we are better than this.Post-Script: Heaven; The idea that a man proves who he truly is during a short lifespan averaging at 60 years, and whether or not his actions during those 60 years mean that he is worthy of being in heaven for an infinite amount of years. Makes perfect sense.-Thought: You'd think that a man would change his character more in a 999999^999 amount of years than in 60, wouldn't you? A good man going into heaven could become insane by the 2nd millennium. Just saying.-Thought 2- Religion never thinks things through. Ever. At anytime. Instead of spending their incredible wealth and giving it to the poor like they claim to be doing, they buy and build enormous Churches and Cathedrals. I would also think that a starving man would appreciate meals for a year much more than an all-powerful God, who reputedly created the Universe (Millions of Light-years across)would appreciate a structure 500 feet high and 100 feat across. Just saying.-Thought 3- Jesus did not sacrifice jack sh*t. He died once, and then went up to spend the rest of the millennium by being high in God's presence. That is, if he actually existed, which I find to be extremely doubtful. Just saying.-Thought 4- The bug-proofing during the election of the new Pope: Really? WHO GIVES A SHIT?! WHO? I don't! Nobody gives a f*cking shit about the pope from 100 years about, just as nobody will give a shit about this pope 10 years from now. They are OLD F*CKING MEN. They die like fleas. You get a new one every decade, and, guess what- no new, radical, sweeping changes come about! In the 1000+ rein of Jesus, the world looks to be pretty much as f*cked up as it was before. In fact, it almost looks like Jesus and his merry gang might have... *sadface* made it worse.-Please, in the comments, post issues which you might like to see discussed here, and I will do so! Do not let any religious ass ruin your days- and look out for other atheists, because if we won't help each other, then who will?- ^^=See you guys later, and if someone offers you an easter egg... well, you know where to tell them to put it. (although some of them do taste good XD)=