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I actually haven't seen many people which believe this.

If this does occur, though, it probably arises from the observation that;
-There are many religions.
-There is no obviously 'right' religion; they seem equal in validity.
Or even: -Religion is a human invention but is useful for feeling comforted and loved.

I think also more and more, people are just using their religion as something to belong to, more than any sort of faith. So, they say that they are part of a certain religion, but like other people here have said, they don't actually do anything pertaining to their faith.

I Have to disagree with how you're defining religion, Cougar. Religion includes faith and spirituality. Or at least it SHOULD. IN the end it's up to the individual practitioner to take religion to those levels. And if they don't, part of it is the fault of the religion itself (especially if it is organized and very dogmatic) but it also lies on the practitioner themselves.

It's been my experience that those who don't care for religion usually haven't explored it enough. Most people define it too narrowly, to only organized religion + monotheism and forget about eastern religions, polytheism, pantheism, and animism. Not to assume that's the case with you, but it's something to think about. You don't have to say anything about how much you've searched or thought. whee

Well, the problem is that you think that religion has changed. Think about it, the gods were prayed to for help, for crops, better battles, and weather. Religion isn't a noble practice. Never has been.

Faith on the other hand is. Now religion is supposed to be based on faith, and most of the ancients actually were. But we, in our modern times have run into a problem. We 'know' that acts of nature and occurances in the wild are acts of science, not gods. Thus we have little to base our faith on. Nothing happens that we can attribute to any greater power, so we dwindle in our faith of the greater power. So we ask for more and more minor things that could easily be contributed to a power beyond our controle. We need a way to recreate the faith of the peoples past. And the only ways to do that are either forget what we know about the world, or some how get a greater power to do something great that can only be attributed to it.

On the most recent discussion, religion has always been corrupt. Humans want power and religion is a great way to get it. And so those who have power do everything in their power to keep it. It's recorded in history, and I've seen at least two examples in the last year and a half. And so much of the faith is placed in the rituals and the leaders, not in what the focus of the religion itself.

I agree! Soren Kierkegaard went through three stages throughout his life, the second being an aesthetic stage (think of the 14 yearold 'goths' with spikes and what-not), the last stage being a religious spirtiuality (Christianity). He believed that God's way of life was one of piety and righteousness. He was so fanatic about this new-found spirituality that he gave up the relationship with his fiancee to be more 'pure'.

A religious philosopher I'd like to learn about is Maimonides.