I'm a big fan of Richard Dawkins. The Selfish Gene is superb reading, and makes a whole lotta sense.
I married a catholic girl (
), and every sunday I have an appointment with the gym at the same time she has an appointment to see Mr God. She doesn't hassle me about going diving, and I don't hassle her about membership of one of the world's largest cults. We avoid conversation becuase she has been brainwashed into getting all angry whenever I bring up the merest hint of a possibility that it's all a load of raving bolox, and that the first page is missing from the bible, the one that says "Dedicated to Mum. all characters within are ficticious, and any resemblance etc etc". If I suggest that perhaps the fact that when marrying a catholic you have to agree to bring up your children as catholic means that it's not only bolox, but self-sustaining bolox...oooh then her toys have a real "out of pram" experience.
Personally, I think all religion is crowd control, but that's another story. WE're not special, I don't even think we are the dominant species on the planet, we are just so arrogant we believe we are. The sooner a big-ass rock hurtles in and wipes the slates clean, the sooner the insects can get on with it without us making an arse of the planet.