The argument is summed up best for me in this quote from Pat Condell, a man with whom I don't always agree but who does sometimes hit the nail right where it hurts: "Religion is the perfect umbrella for the psychopath."
In other words, whether you strap on a bomb or call for the dehumanising of people you don't like, do it in the name of religion and suddenly you're a wise man, the voice of authority. Religion isn't the only way to motivate people's hatred, greed and bigotry, but it's one of the quickest and most certain. Most likely that's why it hasn't died off nor is it likely ever to do so, as long as it remains useful.
In other words, whether you strap on a bomb or call for the dehumanising of people you don't like, do it in the name of religion and suddenly you're a wise man, the voice of authority. Religion isn't the only way to motivate people's hatred, greed and bigotry, but it's one of the quickest and most certain. Most likely that's why it hasn't died off nor is it likely ever to do so, as long as it remains useful.
At the age of five, Skagra decided emphatically that God did not exist. This revelation tends to make most people in the universe who have it react in one of two ways - with relief or with despair. Only Skagra responded to it by thinking, 'Wait a second. That means there's a situation vacant.'
