[internetman55]

Well, that's an interesting question, and it's helping me to realize that my arguments have been quite muddled and imprecise. In the case of my ancestors, there are a few points I think are relevant. One, Christianity was a split from a several thousand years old religion, and two, my ancestors presumably joined it under the regular supervision of teachers in this faith. So even though I mixed these two points together and lost sight of my middle argument, I would agree that joining Buddhism or Islam or something under the supervision of a competent and sane teacher (and you do have to be careful here, same goes for Christianity) would likely be safer than doing drugs and miscellaneous religious practices you read about from the internet. But I guess I'm worried about the number of crazy teachers in all religions now that we're discussing this. I guess I just think everyone should take this stuff with a bit of respect and stay safe.