If you can't stand religion why do you always bring it up? Now you're proposing a new one? I agree that some people who claim to be religious spread hatred, but i think that is a part of the human condition. I identify myself as a christian because I try to follow the christian path even though it is hard for me a lot of the time (most of the time, i guess) but i don't go around bashing other people for their beliefs or spreading hate or trying to convert people to think like me. i don't do any of that stuff. and i think that i am more representative of the majority of "religious" people than some hate mongering bigot.

granted, there are a lot of people like that out there. i think that the human condition gets exploited by those who know how to manipulate people, but it isn't just perpetrated by religion, you find it in all areas of life. i never see anyone railing against the hypocrisy and evil of our own consumerism or multinational conglomerates worth trillions of dollars or oil companies and the destruction they are causing to the creation. we have all been brainwashed to believe that we have to have more, more, more even though there are people in the world who have nothing. at least my religion speaks against that way of thinking and the church i attend gives me some way of acting on it. if it weren't for my church, the neighbourhood it is in would be a much grimmer place than it is now. it just never fails to hurt me when people just lump all religion and all religious people together and call them whatever they want to call them. if you are doing that, are you not the pot calling the kettle black? just something to think about.

I'm an atheist who sees nothing wrong with religion. I just don't believe in those who try to force their beliefs on others. That goes for fellow atheists also! I have come across other atheists who can be just as bigoted as religious people. I know plenty of religous people who do NOT judge those who do not follow their beliefs.