Quote Originally Posted by Taunton Blue Genie View Post
Religion was never free choice and merely an instrument of indoctrination. That's why, of all the thousands of gods in history, people tended to believe in the one their parents believed in.
It's a little bit odd that ain't it?

My mother was quite upset when I told her I was a non-believer, and in the end I had to tell a white lie when she asked me if I believe we will "all be together when we die".

Which, in my opinion, points to why religion exists. A lot of people struggle to come to terms with their own mortality, that it doesn't last for ever. I struggled with it for a long time as I tried to shake off the chains of indoctrination.

My mother was also fearful that, as a non believer, I would somehow lose any moral compass I had. I merely pointed her to the stories of catholic priests who abused young children and she said "yes, but they are the priests that don't believe in God!".

I didn't come from a particularly religious background, but I remember being petrified that I was going to burn in hell for the multitude of sins that I had unwittingly committed as a teenage boy. It's in such an environment that these "men of God" are able to commit such heinous crimes.