Believing in a higher power, or some sort of god is fine with me. Science doesnt explain everything for me.
That being said, I detest organised religion as ..
#1 I think it has very little to do with god. Religion in some form or another has been around for 1000's of years. It was historically used to controll the masses i.e. sacrifices in ancient civilisations for good harvests and prosperity, the burning alive of human beings accused of witchery and the crusades/holy wars.
#2 It has proven time and again to be easily corruptable. Think medieval times when scores were slaughtered because they either didnt believe or their belief differed, the conquering of new lands and the erradication of the natives, the conflicts over the West Bank, the conflicts in Ireland, suicide bombers in the name of Allah, the cover ups of the Catholic church with regard to sex crimes…the list goes on and on and on.
#3 The wealth that is built from what should be a non profit organisation and the pathetic distributions of said capital.
#4 The preying on of the vulnerable i.e. the emergence of suicide cults, scientology, tele-evangelism and faith healers.
With the entering of the industrial age and then modernism, the control factor has been lessened in the western world, but is still alive and kicking elsewhere. Why? We can explain almost everything yet the churches urge us to disregard this new information and continue to follow outdated belief systems that quite frankly make no sense.
As I said in the other thread, I was raised Catholic, went through the Catholic school system. It amuses me that many take the writings in the bible as gosple and are so closed minded to alternatives. I took a couple of relevant teachings and try to follow those i.e. do unto others and the ones that were made into the law of the land i.e. dont murder, steal etc...the rest of the bible, to me, is a good yarn but nothing more.
Lastly, onto God. I agree that faith is based upon the pillar of fear of the unknown after death. When my brother was killed my mother jumped head first into religion and it broke my family apart. I can see why she needs to believe she will see him again and to be honest I'd like the same. However I refuse to allow this to consume my life. This has burnt a lot of bridges that are yet to be mended. We are trying but it is a very slow process. I believe that God is a state of mind, a feeling, not an essence. I dont believe that Jesus was sent from heaven to save us all. Moreso he was a holy man with schizophrenia who _thought_ he was the son of God. There no doubt that if he is being portrayed correctly that he tried to make his world a better place but again I come back to the thought that it was all in his head. This is a thought I have about another historical figure - Joan of Arc.
I cant say that I dont believe in some higher power, but my experiences in life and earlier on at church has concreted my opinion that none of the organised religions have it right.