I was thinking more about things like "the afterlife," the "purpose of the universe," "why are we here?" ... you know, those things that are actually unknowable -- we know full well about the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus. Today, at least. If you have more information, please post cites.
[ To make my point more concrete, let me ask you: do you believe in the afterlife? If not, why not? If you think science will help you here, you're wrong. ]
> It looks like what you said was basically "religion is
> what people can and should (!) believe in, until they
> know better." I don't get the "should" part.
You've inverted what I said; I said that religion should speak to it, not that people should believe in what is said (it's a free market, chose your faith wisely!). As to why they "should" ... it's their base: many people want other people to tell them about the unknowable, and they want something to believe in. The unknowable can be scary. There's nothing wrong with that, is there?
I meant "should" in opposition to speaking to the other two ... Unless what you mean is "religion shouldn't exist" (i.e., shouldn't speak to anything) in which case I think you're on your own on that one.
/jordan