Reading these threads has backed up what I have come to believe in the past 2 decades. Most people think that Their religion is the right one, and the rest are wrong. Even in Christianity, the different denominations argue that their's is right, and other denominations are wrong. I was raised in a strict Baptist home, and my Dad was a fire and brimstone minister. There were rules and commandments to be followed to the letter, or you would burn in Hell for all Eternity. In my late teens, I met a Muslim, who would be described as an extremist from the posts I've read on this board. We talked quite a bit about religion, but he had the common view his religion is the right one, and the rest, particularly Christianity, are wrong.
I've done a lot of reading since then on different religions and their histories. The Crusades convinced me that there are no Gods. A Christian God wouldn't have let the Crusades fail to retake His holy land. A Jewish God would have prevented the Holocaust, and all the persecutions the Jews have suffered over the centuries. An Islamic God, though it may have helped kick the Christians out during the Crusades, wouldn't have let a false religion spread over a large part of the planet.
I think religions were created when humans were a young race. People worked very hard just feed themselves, plus dealing with disease, famine, and rival humans who had no qualms about killing each other. They didn't have long life expectancies, and death was a constant companion with tribe and family members. Life was harsh in the extreme, so why live it. So they created Gods. When they had food, it must have been a gift from their God, not the fact that they found the fruit tree or planted the crops. And when they died, their God would take them to a paradise, where the harshness of life would be left behind, and they would be reunited with long dead family members and all would be happy and good.
So that is why early Man got up and toiled in the fields and endured the suffering of everyday life and made offerings to his God. Because when his life would end, he would be with his dead wife and sons who had succumbed to disease or animal attacks, and his God would provide all they needed. If early Man didn't have a glorious afterlife to look forward to, I think quite a few of them would have asked "What's the point, life is so hard" and tossed themselves off a cliff somewhere. So Gods were invented, because Man has to have something to believe in. He couldn't find anything, so he made sonething up himself. Over the centuries, these conjured up beliefs have grown into the Religions we have today.
I have no faith in a Diety, so unless I see some scientific evidence that there is a God, I'm not going to believe in it's existance. That's one of the reasons I haven't posted in these discussions. I believe what I believe, and someone telling me what they feel isn't going to change my mind. It's possible I'm wrong, and that's why, when discussing religions with my Sons, I tell them to do some research, and find the one that feels right to them. Make your own decision based on what you know. Don't believe something just because someone tells you it's true. Back it up with research. Or don't pick a religion at all, it's not mandatory, it's your choice.
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