I know you're about as big of a Hitchens fan as I am, but if you haven't yet, "god is not GREAT" is well worth the read. It's that sort of analysis of organized religions that make me wonder how in the hell those operations ever took root in the first place, and even more to the larger point, it makes me wonder how they continue to exist. When I take a step back and consider the presence of 127 different forms of afterlife, each specific to a different belief system, it makes me wonder how deluded the "faithful" are. It's impossible for me to not think that most of those who claim faith in Nirvana, or Heaven, or what-have-you must have serious inner doubts.

Considering our knowledge of the universe, knowledge that was obviously absent back in the day, one would have to be willfully ignorant, not to mention arrogant, to still think that "god" is looking down on our little speck of dust over here on a remote arm, of a rather average galaxy, over in our little corner of the universe, and prefers one group of humans over another.

It's not Occam obedient. It doesn't make any friggin' sense at all . And yet, we keep fighting wars to determine whose god is the real god. Which afterlife is the real afterlife. If humans were the culmination of god's handiwork, he'd probably want to blow everything up and try again.