Only back in the Crusades was it really about religion not the pretence of ‘right and wrong’.

It was actually a clever ploy of the Pope Urban to keep violent Noblemen on-side and to stop them killing each other.Go and kill the Muslims, plunder..Err…I mean free… the “Holy Land” not your neighbour.But it had as much justification as any “Holy War” has ever.

Religion is far more culturally significant than Dawkins or N-Dubz.

Maybe in your culture, certainly not in mine. In my culture we value education, knowledge, reasoning, respect, understanding and empathy. Whilst I accept your assertion that Dawkins is a ‘pop’ scientist, more your Gary Barlow of science than your Mozart maybe, he still asserts his argument based on logic and fact, as opposed to the feelings and beliefs of religious argument.

So for me and my culture Dawkins (and n dubs; loads of people love x factor) is FAR more relevant than religion.

Maybe in your culture, certainly not in mine. In my culture we value education, knowledge, reasoning, respect, understanding and empathy

Do you know from where those values of education, knowledge, reasoning, respect, understanding and empathy derived?

Do you know the history behind the foundation of the World’s first Universities? Hospitals? Charities?

What is your culture? Where do you live? What laws do you abide by? How were those laws formed? What was the ideology behind the formation of those laws?

Do you know from where those values of education, knowledge, reasoning, respect, understanding and empathy derived?

They evolved as survival mechanisms for a social species and were then co-opted into religious belief?

Or maybe it was religion that helped organise and homologate such survival mechanisms?

Or maybe it was religion that helped organise and homologate such survival mechanisms?

Religion (rather than god) is a man made construct so I seriously doubt that it had any hand the evolution of man.

Religion has been a useful tool to impose morals and good conscience on the uneducated masses, in the past, and to provide convenient justification for some extremely morally dubious acts by the ruling classes since time immemorial. It has seriously outlived it’s usefulness; we have mass media to do that now.

Republicans seem to be particularly god fearing, yet very quick to support military action. Revenge seemed to be high on the agenda after 9/11 and I’m not quite sure how that sits with being religious.

Religion has been a useful tool to impose morals and good conscience on the uneducated masses, in the past, and to provide convenient justification for some extremely morally dubious acts by the ruling classes since time immemorial. It has seriously outlived it’s usefulness; we have mass media to do that now.

Do we not call it capitalism now?

Do we not call it capitalism now?

True that.