OK. Religion, by my definition is a means with which people before the days of mass communication were able to transmit values and morals to a broad audience. In addition, it was a means with which to explain the unexplainable; the sun rising, the moon, the stars, lightning, life, death, etc.  It gives people a reason not to fear death (in SOME places in the world these days, it almost seems to ENCOURAGE people to meet an early end......).

It is useful today as a means of bringing a community together, of teaching those same morals and values. In illiterata areas of the world is still serves its function VERY WELL and people with the "wrong" message (i.e. Extremists) can still easily get their message out and influence the way people conduct themselves......

However, after living in Texas for a while, I discovered that religion is not just an idea or a belief; it's also BIG BUSINESS. Churches with DVDs of the sermons, celebrity guests, stadium seating, franchises (believe me, they're there), Church CEOs and CFOs....it's Religion gone Corporate.

I think a good exclamation point on that statement can be found on our new friend: www.godtube.com If you think for one minute this is some way to modernize religion for the sake of religion, I would suggest you ask about the revenue they're generating from their Google ads and other traffic....

Here's a rather amusing example of one of the videos I found posted:

http://www.godtube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=c5280214e0486b273a5f

~Dubya