Is JIF the right brand of peanut butter? I can line up a million-odd SKIPPY lovers who'll say otherwise (the most comforting afterthought being that no one will end up dead or miserable for their choice). As this is a baited question, permit me to nibble along the logical periphery: ALL religions are poorly-realized amalgams of previously-held beliefs, designed to elicit a response of the baser emotions (fear and guilt, more often than not) common throughout humanity. Most people are feel-good theists, latching onto inherited guessworks as a way of charting their places in the omniverse (hey, whatever tugs at your bobber there, folks). Unfortunately, most religions insist upon a policy of absolutism (the reasons should be patently obvious), whereupon the more strident adherents busy themselves with the gossamer tasks of populous conversion. These machinations have proven to be both horrendously and insidiously futile, as the inescapable fidelity of reality (and those who cleave to its contentions) bided its time and gained footing as the preeminent arbiter of terrestrial prosperity. In summation, the paring down of the metaphysical is an exercise in vanity; stay the course of tangible discovery in the here and now.
