When societies are at their best the rules of all fulfill the test; no matter what belief they have – whatever god, or none at all:

BUDDHISM: “Hurt not others in ways that you yourself would find hurtful.” - Undarsayarga
CHRISTIANITY: “Do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.” - Jesus Christ
CONFUCIANISM: “Do not do to others what you would not like them to do to you.” Confucius
HINDUISM: “This is the sum of duty: do not do to others what would cause pain if done to you>” – Vyasa
ISLAM: “Do unto all men as you would wish to have done unto you and reject for others what you would reject for yourself.” - Prophet Muhammad
JUDAISM: “What is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow man. This is the law: all the rest is commentary.” – Rabbi Hillel
ATHIESM: “Do good, for good is good to do, spurn bribe of heaven and threat of hell.” – the common standard.

And when there are so many god-fearing intemperates saturating the media with declarations equating to “there is but one God, Allah, and Mohammad is his Prophet”, especially from the Christian dogmatists, it is no wonder a grumpy word or two gets written about religions.

Brave article. Let's wait for the circular logic from defenders of the faiths.

excellent, touching article.

A thoughtful well written article and only a day after the usual balderdash from Sells and his supporters. And fully in tune with the proposed ads on the UK buses,'There probably is no God so stop worrying and enjoy your life'.
The last comment in the article sums up Peter Singer's arguments in 'How are we to live?'. Singer argues that a person who lives a life based on achieving improvements outside his own direct benefit will fare well.

Funny you write this today, I heard on radio national this morning (must have been the religion report) some dude that belongs to an ' atheist club' and another that belongs to the ' fruitcakechristio4eva' club, Oh it was about a bus company in SA rejecting a request for an ad on their busses that said something about " atheism and reasoning" so anywayhow.
Which got me thinking over my initial reasoning that led me to that A word.
I reasoned that if I was born and mysteriously had not come into contact with any human that had a method of brainwashing me " I would be as every other living thing" and be pure of mind and therefore 'sane' as well as godless.
I also read what i could in encylopaedia's about the history of religion ' christianity' and brushed over the muslim faith in an effort to be slightly diverse in my knowledge although I'd sort of made up my mind with my philosophy of innocence.
Yep everlasting life is a great yarn to suck in those that don't want it to end, and what an amazing powerbase it is. "Is blind faith a primate attribute?" What about Lemmings?
Just imagine what minds could acheive without the ever oppressive religious attitude to confuse and control them. " a healthy earth for our offspring " or 'just a springboard to eternal life so who cares what I'm leaving'
etc.. Cheers

Great article and a very well throught-out conclusion.

I wholeheartedly agree that what an individual chooses to believe in is up to that individual. My personal opinion in that using one's beliefs to discriminate in any way against others is one of the worst forms of arrogance.