[Dion]

Ironically, a true religion would not have to use force or threats because a true religion like a true science is simply a true description of man's relationship and responsibility to the universe and would help any man who followed it. It would be ridiculous to suggest that you would have to force someone to do something that is for his own benefit. Only a false religion, (a superstition), would have to resort to force or threats. You would not have to force people to accept a true religion any more than you would have to force them to drive cars rather than horse drawn carriages.

Paradoxically, the use of force in a religious war is actually an indication of a lack of faith not an assertion of it. Because if a person truly believed that an all powerful 'holy ghost' was controlling everything and the fate of the universe was not alterable by nor dependent upon man, the true believer would never bother to use force, especially if he thought the all powerful 'holy ghost' had ordered him to turn the other cheek. Wars fought over things, like fundamentalist religion, which people don't really believe in anyway, are the height, the epitome of human folly. Can you imagine the absurdity of the human race being exterminated in a conflict over something they don't really believe in anyway?

A true religion is not superstition any more than darkness is light. A true religion is a tool to help man understand and direct his relationship and responsibility to the universe around him. If we examine our experience in physical science, we find clearly that our first advances in the realm of physical science were merely crudely sharpened stones, axes and spears. It is hardly surprising that our first moral or religious systems were inefficient. In a figurative metaphorical sense, our 2,000 year old moral systems are like crudely sharpened stones. But that does not mean that we should abandon all moral or religious ideas any more than we abandoned all tools because our first axes and spears were inefficient

http://www.jameshartforcongress.com/...us/chapVII.htm