Church/Religion is the biggest scam and manipulation of ill informed human minds.

"i see your points and it is defiantly true taht protestants are btter in most ways and also today's society and reformed the church even more. But it is the same religion and the apple doesnt fall too far from the tree." I see your point as well, all of these religions believe in a god, and all of them are trying to make it to a better life through this god. However they are not quite the same religion. "Sorry for the short rersponse to such a lengthy and well thought out peice but i think you mostly address a single issue of the protestants not being as bad as the catholic." That just fine, because I did only address one topic:) "But to some other of my concerns being the foundation and center of the religions being a fiction figure isn't a good thing And like i said, church today wastes your time because of what your great ancestors fell victim to." I can see your concern, because your right. Without a god-like figure in the picture, most religions would be a scam, telling you that you need to do good works and pay lots of money to the church to be happy; justifying it all by saying your "doing it for God". I think, though, that even without a god-like figure, Protestantism could not be considered a scam. Protestants (true Protestants, that is) do not force anyone onto their religion, they do not require you to pay money to the church, they do not even require good works. It could be considered an "open" religion, due to the fact that no one is force into it, but anyone is open to it. Buddhism I don't think could be considered a scam either, even if there was no real god figure, mainly due to the fact that it does not force anyone into the religion. Buddhism is based on what they call "The Noble Eightfold Path". This is their eight ways to reach the end of suffering, and they are: 1. Right View, Wisdom 2. Right Intention 3. Right Speech, Ethical Conduct 4. Right Action 5. Right Livelihood 6. Right Effort, Mental Development 7. Right Mindfulness 8. Right Concentration These are all personal, not to be forced on anyone, only encouraged to teach others. Once again, even if there was no real god-like figure, Buddhism would be an innocent religion, not a scam, even if incorrect. "...And like i said, church today wastes your time because of what your great ancestors fell victim to." I guess I am not really understanding how you think they "fell victim" to religion. Like I said in my previous argument, their minds were just as developed as our minds are today, and they were perfectly able to analyze what they were given and decide for themselves if it was worth believing or not. Also, whether or not church is a waste of time is a matter of opinion. If you believed in a religion, you would probably want to go to a church that taught that religion. Same with everyone else. They believe in a religion, and want to go to a church that teaches that religion. Our ancestors did not fall victim to religion, rather they CHOSE religion. Those who did not think it worth believing did not choose it. Also, it was not only the ignorant that chose religion. King Solomon, said to be one of the wisest if not the wisest man in history chose to believe in God. He was not forced to believe in it, but it seemed logical to believe in a god to him. This was even before Roman Catholicism, Buddhism and Christianity. People have been believing in and rejecting the idea of a god for thousands of years, not only the ignorant, but also the very wise. I agree that many people were tricked into religion, but I also think that many were not, but simply found it logical to believe in God. Those that believed in God would obviously pass it down to their children, and their children's children, but whether those that they passed it on to would accept it or not was not up to them at all. Therefore, I do not think that people are religious because of what their ancestors thought or believed, but because they find it logical themselves to believe in a religion. "Today, people go to church, i hate to say it, but i went to church a couple times, and this is all i heard "blah blah worship god, god is soo great, we bow down to god, god is almighty, i am HONORED to praise god, i a SOO THANKFUL that good has given me the prvilige of worshipping him, i love god, god is the best, i am grateful to be here loving god, god will save me, god is the best thing that ever happened tome" now i know this isn't what the church is about but to me hearing this is soo discouraging that people waste their time to stop and be honored to PRAISE a non-existent figure. Its astounding that people actaully do beleive in this and waste their precious time to do this for "god"" Like I said in my last argument, I would not go so far as to say that whether or not you believe in God decides if he exists, but I would say this: people have the right to worship God. If someone believes in God, then it is not a waste of their time to go to church and worship him. I know it does astound some people that don't, but that's ok, because they are not required to worship God. Whether or not God exists does not make it wrong to worship God, and it does not necessarily make the religion a scam. I believe I adressed all of your points. If I did not, please let me know, and I will correct myself in my next argument:)