Originally Posted by TheSquealer

With reference to religion, i would simply say this... monotheistic religions serve a very vital purpose in the evolution of man and our transition from nomadic lifestyles to sedentary lifestyles... to successfully living together in larger and larger cities. That's when they came into being (roughly 10k years ago and later). Man could not achieve living together peacefully in large cities without moral laws, codes of conduct and standards of behavior - agreements and understanding as to right and wrong, amoral and immoral behavior, how to treat food, dead bodies, personal hygiene and ones health and lifestyle, and so on and so on. God is the ultimate cop. It's a very well studied phenomena that believing yourself to be accountable to an all knowing being makes you many many times more likely to act accordingly, whereas, otherwise you will simple save the bullshit for when you think no one is looking. Religion through history has always been a strong governing force, reliably keeping people in check. Pointing to the exceptions does not negate that fact. It's also worth pointing out that the vast majority of people on earth believe in a higher power... not just US Republican Congressmen or Senators.

Monotheistic religions a necessary step in the evolution of man which serve what should be a very obvious and clear purpose. Making fun of religion is like making fun of a bronze age shield. Whats the point, its the best there is at the time, thats why its being used. It's also quite fruitless since it so successfully capitalizes on many many illusions of the mind and functions of the brain which people consider religious experience and which aren't likely to go away anytime soon.

Mocking religious people as being stupid or ignorant does not put you on the higher moral ground, nor does it equate to higher intelligence or being more enlightened. In my view, it makes you equally ignorant and naive as you yourself fail to understand the function, purpose and motive of monotheistic religions to begin with.