The post you are reporting:
Some excellent arguments from Rick. However, I would have to take issue with one point, that of 'Religions are behind many, in fact most, wars'. This isn't really the case - certainly most major 19th and 20th century conflicts do not have religious elements as their base, rather that of geo-politics, race and economic competition for resources. A religious element may creep in to some via an element as a factor of cultural identity, but is not usually the primal cause. For example, even The Final Solution was not basically down to religious differences, but that the Jews were perceived by Hitler as an economic threat to Germany, albeit rooted in a deep anti-Semitic European tradition.
And yet even with these non-theistic dictatorships, Stalin, Mao, Korean Kim, Hitler etc, the imagery of the systems they produced seemed to occupy a void in idolatry - the imagery and swaying obedience have a common ground. Whenever I see the masses of devout Catholics lined up underneath the Pope's parapet in St. Peter's Square I cannot help but be reminded of the Nuremberg Rallies. The look of anticipation in the faces as they wait for the shower of verbal gold to drip from the Popes mouth and a wave is akin to a scene from Leni Riefenstahl. I am aware I have probably just offended a few readers, but please bear in mind of course I am not suggesting such devotees have the same mindset as the Nazis - of course not, that would be outrageous, but purely on an aesthetic level parallels can be drawn. Uncomfortable ones and a dangerous area.
A classic line in the hilarious Father Ted summed it up well: "Father Ted: I'm not a fascist, I'm a priest. Fascists dress in black and go around telling people what to do, whereas...priests..."
Personally, I cannot fathom why anyone's world view of the organisation of the cosmos is deemed as correct when it is pretty much rooted in where one is born on the planet, and the culture one is brought up in. Who am I to argue with a Buddhist, Jain, Shinto - and who are they to argue with us? Well, each to their own as long as religious types keep to themselves and their own communities. When the dreaded knock at the door comes, I just smile and say 'no thanks' and close the door - arguing about science, evolution or what not just gets one nowhere, beliefs are simply too deeply entrenched.
On just one positive note, without religion some of the world's greatest architecture would never have been built...Stonehenge, the Valley of the Kings, Karnak, European Medieval Cathedrals, Buddhist temples etc...etc...
To get practical I'm much more worried about being beaten up by a gang of hoodies walking home one night after work than religious extremists trying to annex our freedom of thought.