Ehh, yeah, that subject’s a bit harsh and over the top. But it got your attention, didn’t it?

I couldn’t say it better than this article says it. They discuss a study where social and health problems are far worse in more devout countries including the U.S. than in less devout ones.

Look, religion is a personal thing and I respect that it, in many different forms, can help people have hope, teach them virtues, etc. It *can* be a good thing, and is in many people.

That said, however, religion is in general a path to fundamentalism which shuns tolerance, science, and progress. The U.S. is on this path. Not nearly as far as some (including myself at times) have said, but it is. The end result is unknown. It can be as minor as a short period in American history, followed by a more liberal era of progress where we reinstate evolution’s rightful place in schools, eliminate giving government funds to religious groups who are allowed to break U.S. law and discriminate based on their beliefs, abstinence only education will be tossed aside, and gay rights will make progress. That’s one optimistic option. More pessimistic is that fundamentalism continues to place the U.S. in an economic tailspin and the European Union continues to flourish and become a new, different type of superpower in the new millenium. Science continues to be altered and suppressed, hate crimes rise, equality for minorities is suppressed in the name of religion, and the culture war erupts into a civil war, with Europe having to step in and pick up the pieces of a bankrupt, broken country.

Religion should be a small building you and a few like-minded individuals gather. Religion should be holidays and rituals, books, and lessons you teach your children on how to lead a good life. Religion should be something you bring up with others, and compare and contrast your beliefs in tolerance and find common ground. Religion should encourage you to be a good person who seeks to take the best action for oneself and all others at any given time. Religion should encourage you to find good virtues in yourself like respect, tolerance, charity, honesty, love, compassion, integrity.

Religion should not be what it is in the United States today. What passes for religion in the U.S. today is an abomination.

Britain, UK news from The Times and The Sunday Times - Times Online