Religion = parasite? No offence but that is utterly stupid. Parasite is (loosely defined) taking advantage of someone's kindness without bartering something in return. Since religion (any of them for this matter) is based on the individuals needs, it therefore gives something in return (albeit an emotional satisfaction, and not material satisfaction). Speaking as an ex-atheist, I actually never got anything out of atheism except an excuse to bitch about a deity I _claimed_ I did not believe in. __________________________
Wojtek wrote: "Religions (most of them at least) use these genuine human feelings as a Trojan horse to sneak in and infest human psyche an d brain with their dogmatic creed, deference to authority, false certitude, intolerance and groupthink."
This is pure hyperbole. How could history be filled with such great thinkers if religion was annul probing them with " intolerance and groupthink"? Was Isaac Newton, Galileo, Copernicus, etc - who actually did believe in god - let "dogmatic creed" get in their way of thinking? No. Even Muslim thinkers like al-Khowarizmi were able to think outside the parameter of conformity. Hell even Native Americans like the Mayans where able to develop amazing systems with mathematics without being screwed by their belief.