[squarefoot]

As someone who read the Bible and then decided that atheism was the only logical path, I would be extremely picky on which principles to stick on, because there are some really valid ones in there, but also so much violence and abuse to give the Mein Kampf a run for its money.

In my experience, every time people with executive, military or political power name religion, divinities or whatever related, something very bad is going to happen, and religion is just the leverage to make atrocities more acceptable to the masses.

[krapp]

The problem with religion is that people take it too seriously. No one would be killing in the name of God if everyone agreed "God" was just an anthropomorphization of a set of culturally and politically related social constructs. No one would seriously be claiming the world is 6000 years old because that's how the math in Genesis works out.

No "Holy Lands" being the crucible of a thousand years of bloodshed. World leaders claiming to be guided by prophecy and interpreting Revelations would be treated as lunatics. No anti-semitism or anti-gay prejudice (or probably a lot less,) one man writing sexist opinions in a letter wouldn't be treated as a God-given justification for centuries of violence against women.