chavos

I'd be surprised if you can make a case for religion that doens't also indicte governments. Don't mean to steal moonduck's thunder, but as a person of faith, i just had to say something about your assumptions.

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- Religion is inherently non-rational; "accept what this book says without question, lest you be punished." It encourages one to *feel*, rather than to think.

Perhaps...but many religious systems around the world focus on meditation, reflection, and using the mind to unlock the reality of God, Nirvana, etc.... You also skip ahead and make the claim that religion is authoritarian by nature, and that it is about punishment. Many forms are, but most historically have not been. The exceptions have been certain strains of the great monotheisms...whereas the more popular polytheisms and animisms do not contain this "high stakes testing" of belive or else.

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- It is also inherently authoritarian; you are to listen to the elders/priests/pope, and do what they say - they know best.

Some kinds yes...but many not at all. It is quite popular in bhuddist regions for all boys to enter the monestary for a time, and thus make it so that everyone has at least some religious training...a much more level playing felid than the top down authoritarian vision you present. In rabbinic judiasm, arguement and discussion of torah is the right and responsibility of active participants in the community. In quaker circles there are no clergy, no authorities, and anyone who feels moved speaks freely in community gatherings.

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- Most importantly, religion is always right; no matter the reality, the holy book cannot be wrong; anyone opposing this is a heretic and must be stopped from spreading their nasty ideas.

The lovely legacy of the inquisition...another broad stroke that doesn't fit. Yes, there are many strains of Christianity, Islam, etc...that claim this. But that's not the whole story. Polytheisms and non-theistic faiths have an abhorrance for orthodoxy...and it does not develop in those religions. Ever find a Fundamentalist Hundu Temple? I didn't think so. Nor is every monotheist such a limited thinker...as i mentioned, rabbinic Judiasm carries the idea of conflicting ideas leading to deeper understanding, there are several major denominations of Christianity that have become homes to radical new thinkers, and there have and continue to be many tolerant and cosmopolitan forms of Islam.

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Because of these three reasons alone, religion *can* be used to justify the most horrid of crimes - it facilitates them, so to speak. Atheism is different, in that it cannot possibly be used like that.

Put as much fear behind a strong belief as seems to show up in the posts that get made to attack religion, and you're talking about a system capable of its own pogroms and brutalities. In fact, with out a religious injuction as to the supreme value of human life, it is more likely that ends justify the means policies will be enacted...and that human rights and lives will be shortchanged.

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So, just to go slightly back to your part of the line: any social system that encourages people to stop thinking for themselves, and accept whatever their leaders tell them, is inherently bad, and must be stopped. This includes nationalism, the cause of WW1 and WW2, but this also includes religion, the cause of many a massacre in recent history.

Let me summarize your statement: "Kill religion, before it kills us."

This comes out of ignorance, it comes out of fear, and is a dangerous kind of claim to make. I hope you change your mind.