No, no, no, not everybody belongs to a religion. That line of thinking may be comforting to the religious, but it merely perpetuates the fallacious line of reasoning that religion is a necessity of human life. Historically, religion is mostly a tool for amassing power/subduing the proles.

Actually, the golden rule isn't specific to the Judeo-Christian tradition at all. It was around in various forms in religions long before the Old Testament was written.

Religion is the greatest force of evil in the world precisely because it is the only entity which is allowed to believe and propagate absurdity and lack of reason, and no one even blinks, because faith is "special." So, we let fundamentalist Christians and Catholics essentially kill people in Africa because, hey, God says sex is dirty and you shouldn't do it anyway, and condoms are evil. In any other field of study, this absence of logic isn't tolerated.

That's all. That's why religion is at the root of most of the death and suffering in all of human...

Oh and Kate, I didn't say that people with morals aren't fun! My point was that people who feel the need to MORALIZE about other peoples' actions and deeds, things that aren't actually hurting anyone else, are rude and obnoxious.

BIG difference.

No, ma'am, on all counts. First of all, it seems that you've conflated my opposition to religion with unhappiness, somehow. The two aren't related, though...at all. I do know, from being a "saved" Evangelical myself (years ago), that Christians tend to tell each other and themselves that only THEY have a certain kind of happiness. This is simply not true. Also, it's a mistake to separate Christianity from religion. That's another thing that Christians say to each other, but again, it's not true. In the eyes of the outside world, and in the eyes of those of us who are agnostic toward all religion, there is nothing that sets Christianity apart. Just like any other religious faith, some use it to do good and some use it to do bad. ...

Nope, I was raised by Conservative Christian parents in the South.

Good guess, though!

And Joycey, I'm not hardened in my thinking at all. I've been on both sides of this debate, both hiding within religion and running from it, and I've learned a lot in the process. As an adult in my 30's, I'm not doing either of those anymore. I do indeed believe that religion (of all kinds) is the greatest source of evil in the world, and has been for thousands of years. And I believe it's far past time we stop putting religious faith up on a pedestal for any reason.

When I was in college, there was this girl everyone knew, as she was visible in the Greek system. We called her "Mommy Morals." Our Greek system was like any other large Southern university. Most liked to have a good time, but there were those who were heavily focused on getting a great education, and there were those who were wild. Some fell into both categories. Anyway, everybody hated Mommy Morals. She was such a phenomenal pain, nitpicking about what SHE thought a lady should be like, how SHE thought others should comport themselves, and the sheer irony of the situation was that in her quest to be the most upright, Concerned Woman on campus, people mostly tried to ignore her, like a gnat. Strangely enough, most of those...

So...wait. I know the mouthbreathing response will be "Bill Clinton blowjob snort snort slobber" from many in the peanut gallery, but I second Glenn's sentiments. It is precisely because religious conservatives are so insanely focused on living by sets of rules and mores, rather than simply living good, decent lives of service, that they fall so hard. It may be consoling for some to imagine that the lib'rul mediaz are hiding all the Democratic scandals, but let's face it: when a Republican politican is caught with a mistress, the only surprise is that he wasn't caught with a hot young GUY. I mean, Mark Foley, David "Diapers" Vitter, John Ensign, Mark Sanford, oh my god, Mark Sanford. You want to see what "conservative values" do...