I share many of your beliefs about religion and the problems it creates for people.

My feeling is that there is no person in the world who knows better than any other as to the nature of man's existence and place in the universe.

I accept intelligent design as one of many possibilities on how man may have come to be, but I also feel that within this context there are any number of infinite possibilities which may or may not be true.

Here are some questions to contemplate which there is likely nobody on earth who knows the answers to:

1. How did man/life come into existence? By intelligent design, or by accident and natural/random processes? Direct creation? Indirect creation (creating something else which evolved into man?)

2. If man/life was intelligently designed, then by who or what? God of the Bible? Another race of beings more evolved but not much different from man? A benign force? A malevolent force? A force with both benign and malevolent qualities (like man)? A perfect, all-seeing, omnipresence? An imperfect being?

These are but a few of the question which pose themselves. Personally, I find it very presumptuous that religious groups make the assumptions that they know the answers to these questions. And why? Because of "faith" which basically means they really have no proof, or often even credible evidence.

I believe (but accept the possibility that I may be wrong) that religion was created as a combination of superstitions created by reactions to forces of nature and other unexpainable things to primitive man, and the will of those who wanted to control the masses as a political tool.

I find it interesting that almost every religion is culturally ego-centric and that every religion views its own people as the "chosen" or special people. Most religions such as Christianity and Islaam also teach that there is only one way, and that one must do his best to spread the "word". (It's like a damn virus).

In America we are supposed to have freedom of religion. However this also means we should have the freedom to not have religion forced upon us and exposed to our children in public schools, by public servants, in state buildings, government symbols, and the Pledge of Allegiance.

This also does not mean that religious groups should be entitled to the preferencial treatment that they recieve. They should pay income and property taxes like everyone else.

However, I fear that this is a losing battle. Most people hold dear the concept of religion because it has been driven into the human psyche for so long that it is actually a part of the way people view who they are and what makes them "special". The fact is that people can't deal with the concept of their own non-exeistence/death and insignificance.

Anyhow, some food for thought (for those who actually allow themselves to think).