Don't read this if you're religious

The more I think about it, the more religion strikes me as absolutely preposterous. I mean really. Most 7 year olds are aware that there is no such thing as Father Christmas, the easter bunny or the tooth fairy - but at least all those things have real manifestations in humanity. OK so 9 times out of 10 it's their parents, but at least real, tangible things result.

Laws are passed, wars are fought and millions upon millions of people die every year in the name of God (whichever name those people are choosing is, for the purposes of this rant, irrelevant) A being whose existence has no basis in fact whatsoever, whose representation through history is at best sketchy and for whom, conveniently, the lack of proof of existence is meant to be taken as a test of faith, proving even more that he exists. (He, she - again, it's irrelevant) It's just utter tosh.

I do not gainsay spirituality, and I do believe that the human soul / conscious mind has more to it than simple mechanics, that we are perhaps more than just a bunch of animals roaming the earth in search of food. But I also suspect that that belief is, in most people, born of an inability to comprehend the idea of Nothing. Death is scary scary scary, never seeing those you love again. The idea that you can go through all the crap we go through, with no point or "higher meaning". But isn't our own existence, evolution and experience exactly what we're here for? Is God just a construct to comfort those who have lost loved ones? Some kind of insurance policy against a life cut short? Even some kind of omiscient boogeyman with which to scare children into behaving themselves. People have joked in the past that much of the world's turbulent history could have been avoided had the Bible had another page at the beginning saying "this is a work of fiction."

I believe in morality, I lead a relatively ethical existence (certainly in terms of the 10 commandments.) So much of the bible is just extremist, racist, homophobic evangelism, encouraging awful acts of retribution on what nowadays would be considered relatively minor sins. We throw up our Western hands in horror at the idea of Arabic cultures engaging in practices like cutting off the hands of thieves, or punishing women who have been raped. And yet it's all there, in the bible. If God were real, what kind of role model is that? I would rather raise my son to believe in a world where that kind of teaching is a thing of the past. We are encouraged to move with the times in all other aspects of life - why not this one? A country plunging further into debt by the day spends £20 million on a visit from the Pope. HOW can it possibly cost that much? I would love to know how much religion costs the average tax payer in this country.

Science has proved so much. We know some things don't exist (sorry Nessie...) And yes, fine, there are still things about this world, and more about the universe, that we don't know and probably never will. I just very much doubt that God's existence is one of them.I am all for people being happy in their own skins and finding whatever understanding of life makes them feel necessary and worthwhile in it. I just can't help feeling it's something that should be left behind with puberty.