I'm not putting as much thought into this as I'd like, but I haven't got a lot of time right now.
You know, it's interesting that despite the bad press organised religion has got -and deserved in the case of the Roman Catholic church (refusing the active participation of women, selling "get into heaven" cards, the Crusades, the Inquisitions, Galileo and everybody else, needing celibacy rules because too many children of popes and bishops were inheriting and draining off funds from the Church, persecution of people of other faiths, teaching self-hatred, repressing sexuality, denying intimacy to clerics, covering up the abuse that results from the previous three, making contraception a religious issue) there is a basic idea in it that still draws people.
A lot of your criticisms of the Catholic church are valid and deserve to be addressed. A lot of thme
aren't. Indulgences? Calileo? The Inquisition? The
Crusades? These things happened a very, very long time ago, and while they stand as examples of How Things Can Go Wrong, they aren't valid reasons to hate the Church
today. There are plenty of other good reasons for that, and you've outlined a few of them already.
No matter how much distance there is between the traditions of Christian churches and the teachings of Christ, no matter how ugly the face of the Church seems sometimes, people still come. The Church has sold religion as an opiate - obey and you will be saved, don't worry about starving in this life because Heaven is really nice - but that emphasis hasn't been used for 30? years. Perhaps because education has encouraged a lot more thinking to occur.
You're ignoring two big things, here. First, the Church is still most powerful in developing nations where things really aren't that great. Second, religion has
never been nothing but an Opiate For The Masses. Some of the finest and most powerful minds him human history have been religious and in fact motivated by religion. (You also seem to be using 'religion' as a synonym for 'Christianity', but we'll leave that alone for now.)
So, why do people have a religion? Is it a need for ritual? A sense of sharing and sameness? Or are the basic ideas of a guide to what is right and attaining a sense of peace fundamentally important to people?
Do you really think anyone here is qualified to answer that question? Religion has been around since before civilization. It's been around since before modern humans. As much as some people would like to think that we've outgrown it, I really don't see that ever happening.
As for Blood Raven's expressed distaste for religion, consider that she's made it a major goal in her life to be the biggest stereotypical mopey Goth she possibly can be. Examine her posts. Ask yourself how deeply she's likely to have thought about these issues
or anything else for that matter. Go ahead, I'll wait.
Got it?
Yeah, that's what I thought.
