Mirza, imagine how advanced our society might be if some of the great minds who sought answers OUTSIDE of the church had not been killed off as heretics. It seems that for every great scientific advance, there is an equal leap backwards in superstition and ignorance. BTW, God didn't create us in HIS image; quite the opposite, WE created God in OUR image.

You ask, how did we come to be this way? I think it started as a way to explain the things we didn't understand but soon evolved as a way for a savvy, powerful few to control the many. Yep, in the end it's all about POWER. "Power to the people", NO, Power to the few.

There are many good ideas, concepts, philosophies, etc. contained in MOST religions. Stripped of it's baggage (horrific threats, supernatural beings, ridiculous rituals, unrealistic promises ie. 'everlasting life', etc.), most religions could easily be a great 'code of conduct' or model for how to live one's life and how to treat his fellow humans, but somehow, that doesn't seem to be enough. We seem to need to have some sort of 'humanoid' figure with the power to heal, destroy, punish, and reward. Just "being good for goodness sake" doesn't yet seem to be attainable. Perhaps some many centuries in the future, provided we haven't killed each other off, but probably not likely. And when the last wisp of nuclear smoke clears, we'll have one thing to thank, RELIGION.

chas