From my journal (tl;dr):
When evaluating the benefits of religion, there can be no doubts; one need only look at history to view how religion can inspire man's actions. Whether a religion is actually valid is wholly irrelevant - One can be inspired to action regardless of his faith. However, philosophically at least, I have a qualm:
Why ought any one religion be considered any more valid than another? One can be sure that a Christian feels that his religion is just as valid as a Hindu does - as a Gnostic does - as a Bhuddist does - as a Muslim does. No one is incorrect, yet no one is correct, either; these dogmas are all equally valid, yet at the same time they are all equally invalid. To wit: I could - right now - invent a religion based around a benevolent purple cloud (perhaps more appropriately, about a cogniscent, infinite-potential monolithic structure that lords over not only our actions in this dimension, but also in our collective unconscious; or how about the undead, malevolent spirits of fiends hurled into a volcano several millions of years ago). Ridiculous as such ideas may seem, their nature is no more absurd than the concept that Zeus committed multiple acts of bestiality with human females, that the final battle between the Gods and the Titans will take place on a massive Rainbow Bridge, or that our current age will end with the alignment of the planets (despite the fact that this event has occurred thousands of times in our world's history). Who can say what allows a religion to succeed, only that it does, and that posterity increases with time. But posterity is not synonymous with legitimacy, and religion largely remains ridiculous and seemingly-fabricated.
Modern religions that fill their doctrines with logic and equation are also invalid, as they are simply new takes built on old fundamentals - to divert the attention of the masses and acquire authority. Even if it makes more sense, it is still the same message, but in modern packaging. It is my opinion that if all religions are equally valid and invalid, then believing in no higher form of power than man and his knowledge of "self" must be at least as valid. The key difference in my belief and what others believe is that I am at least able to see proof of my faith throughout my daily life.
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