Reply #40: See, that idea terrifies the deeply religious.

[tclambert]

"Imagine no religion." It really is easy if you try. But the big religions all have a carrot and stick system built in. Believe, and you go to paradise, you know, when you die, if you have lived a holy enough life. But the stick they've been indoctrinated to believe in, is: if you doubt, even a little, you face eternal torment in the pits of Hell! It's a form of terrorism, isn't it?

What I really believe is that no wise god would be so cruel. And the data from this planet shows conclusively that whatever god runs this place is willing to tolerate many diverse religious beliefs, including not believing in "it" at all. If some crazy alien with only a trillion times the power and intelligence of the human race wanted everybody to worship it in some particular fashion, it could make it happen easily enough. For an all powerful, all knowing god this would be a trivial exercise. And yet, the biggest religion has less than 1/4 of the Earth's population amongst its followers. And there are many violently opposed factions within that religion. QED.