[tgflynn]

With the high level of self awareness that you've developed as evidenced by this post I would think you would be largely immune to falling into the kind of traps you're worried about. Maybe you should ask yourself why you don't trust your self enough to avoid such traps in the future ?

I think there is also a risk in becoming too skeptical or even cynical. I agree that there is much in most religions that is not useful and can sometimes by very harmful yet at the same time I think many religions contain elements of truth that are worth being open to.

My recommendation would be to approach all ideas with openness while maintaining a healthy amount of skepticism. Try to find the nuggets of gold without becoming burdened with tons of sand.