There are no wrong answers..only different opinions...such a cliché!
Religion is not an opinion...never an option as it's our first obligation..it's what you want over what I want...in this case...the "you" is referred to the stronger (hence the weaker) of the two who is responsible for our existence...
Those privileged few who mature enough to realize that there is as much difference in education and qualification as there is between land and water...see the difference between religion (What man says about god) and spiritualism (which is God! or in other words faith or in other words...human brain's most cunning and effective chain of thoughts ).
Religion is limited to region..has a specific ritual....code of conducts....doctrines ingrained in stone..which plebeian sect happily follow to be happy..to be in heaven...to avow their sins and seek redemption..
Religion is the product of some of the smartest brains on earth...I don't think the pioneers themselves realized how smart they were or are..Most effective crowd controlling measure...perfect line of defense..of imposing order...
Talk of the after life..picture the heaven and hell....and the meager minds swallow it all in...you can't seriously have the cops controlling 6 billion people!!! Think about it..most don't opt to murder bosses or wife's lover for the fear of prison but that of hell...Charity happens not for memorials and tax savings but again for heaven....Inventing religion was one heck of a smart move....served purpose for centuries and generations...for the goods as well as the bads...mold it...weave it...use and abuse it as you want...be it vatican or Al-qaeda or the Hindu poilical fanatics....all have enjoyed toying with this notion....
But again...some humans were cheeky and evaded the noose of religion by inventing spiritualism....that's being governed by one's own mind than by other's...Being governed by one's own mind is more like free reign of one's own ego....which usually deems other's as inferior...and hence obvious rejection of an imposition like religion....
Spiritualism is a finer measure of crowd control...It give the egotist, the sense of independence and still ensures the perfect running of the system...no glitch here....for an egotist wants to believe in self righteousness and is less susceptible to be vulnerable of social vandalism and seeks favorable critique....The spiritualists unite all gods and beliefs into a single power,the faith in one! Just faith, just a belief which is undivided and unbiased.
Spiritualism unites a larger segment of humans and all religious people are spiritual...however the converse can hardly be valid. So, is not the mind weaving a cocoon of comfort around the conscience perpetually? Or shall we call it the matrix which is designed not by any android but by us!
Its easy to believe that some deity, some artifact or some mythical power is looking after us, caring and shielding us, will bring us good fortune. Simplest antidote of misery! Antidote concocted not by spirits or extracted of divine objects, it is the power of a very human mind!
To assume general civility as the only outcome of religion and spiritualism will be fatal as these two virtues have often been the seed of most brutal evils. Fanatics weave the mind's control is most conniving schemes thereby convincing self of immature beliefs. Point of consideration is again the mind!
Another simile can be drawn here for those who believe themselves to be agnostics or atheists. Former confused over divinity and the latter contradicts it. Fair enough for the mind designs them differently. Mind juxtaposes the entity of divinity (usually reserved for the more plebeian )with an overtly generous assertions of self confidence and a boisterous ego. For these, either god is an uncertainty or a bogus entity. Its their own judgement, their own sense of realism or in other words, their own mind!!
Truly united and liberated shall we be when we have a temple, a mosque, a church and a gallery of the intellectuals worshiping, hailing, endeavoring to fathom the intricacies of the MIND!
