[Cain]

This was a side comment in the polygamy thread and I didn't want to derail it...thus this is born.

I am an agnostic with atheist leanings. To me, all religions and cults are the same in their belief systems mostly. To clarify what I mean - I do not believe that the possibility of the christian god existing is any more likely than the flying spaghetti monster or xenu. They are all equally likely to be fantastical in my view.

I've had this argument with a friend of mine who is a strong atheist. The problem I have with him is that he despises scientology and anything to do with it, because the premise that their religion is founded on sounds ludicrous to him. I ask him what validates christianity over scientology and he can't really reply with anything other than it is more mainstream or it is older. I don't see how either of those things lend to the credibility of a religion. As it happens in science, newer findings are abundant and often much closer to the mark than the old, so aged information is often less reliable.

So...what in your opinion makes a religion more legitimate than another? Or are they all in the same ballpark, whether you believe in one or not?

And on that note...how do we decide which ones to grant special rights to? All, none or a select few based on what?