What a pleasant surprise to see that this discussion
is still ongoing. Thank You to all of you.

NNS - if you're not a preacher you certainly should
be. I could listen to you. You touch my heart.
And inspire me.

This discussion has broadened out and for that I am
grateful that we're looking at things through
different lenses and perspectives.

Dear Foxy,

Has anyone raised the question What is religion?

I am beginning to think that humans have a lot to answer.
Religious extremists hijack what is normally a loving
peaceful creation. Today we see the results of a
hatred fear and prejudice being passed down to human
misfits. We are fighting a "war on terrorism."
Which should be called a "war on religious extremism."

Islamic extremists seem to be the most prevalent but they
are by no means alone. Hatred exists world wide.

Prejudices exist and are growing - be it against - anything
that is different. Different colour, dress, sexual orientation,
belief, different points of view, different or foreign names,
and the list goes on.

The question is - our actions do affect our life on this
planet and we need to make the choice whether we want to
enhance the life on the planet that we all share or
whether we want to destroy it. The choice is ours.

Dear Foxy,

But what about my question What is religion?

But what about my question What is religion?
Mr Opinion,
My gut feeling tells me that Religion is the most successful control mechanism ever invented by megalomaniac control freaks !

Dear Individual,

«Why can't people just be decent?»

Because they have not yet learned it.

«Don't they know what decency is unless someone tells them?»

Usually not. Decency is not incorporated in the human-animal instinct, in fact it often goes against the grain of one's genetic instincts.

«Are things really that bad?»

Indeed. If you learnt decency at home then you should consider yourself lucky. Many didn't, many others heard the theory of decency verbally but were beset by contrary examples. Whole cultures in fact do not teach decency at all, whereas the Anglo/Western culture generally attempts to teach decency in some rudimentary form.

«Why do they need Superstition to scare them into being reasonably decent?»

Because many do not know or do not understand the real reasons why failing to be decent is so disastrous. I would rather be given invented/false/superstitious reasons to practice decency than to not learn to practice decency at all in my formative years just because my elders fail to know exactly why it is important.

«What's wrong with people?»

Nothing.

Rather look at this from the half-full side of the glass:

This world is a school. We arrive here without any decency and eventually we graduate with full decency and more. This is a cause to celebrate, not to mourn.

Your question is akin to complaining: "What a generation - why can't my school-kids quote Shakespeare and understand Einstein's general theory of relativity?". The thing is, in time they will, and soon after they will graduate and go to university, then they are no longer school-kids.
School will always remain a school, not a university: new generations of pupils will keep coming in ignorant and coming out educated.

«My gut feeling tells me that Religion is the most successful control mechanism»

Our gut is excellent in telling us straight away to reject rotten food, not whether a medicine is good for us.

If you think that religion is a control-mechanism, then you probably never experienced real religion, perhaps just the rots of some decaying old religion. Religion takes you to Freedom, not bondage.