Again today, I hear that another religious, church-going mother has killed her children and said “God told me to do it.” Do you suppose that it was because a good dose of religion drives some people insane?

The congregation is taught how evil, sinful and unworthy they are, and sex is held as the most detestable human activity! To this day, women are regarded as the most sinful …but are raped at an alarming rate. Women are sometimes compelled to “submit to their husbands” and bear child after child. I can only imagine the stress they suffer.

When a church believes it owns you body and soul, it can commit unspeakable crimes (think of the Incas and human sacrifice).

As an atheist, I find it difficult to see how any religion profits mankind. Because of religion (all faiths), humankind is hundreds of years behind in our progress in science, medicine and technology. Recently, President Bush has ordered the Hubble Telescope not funded probably because we now are seeing images almost back to the Big Bang and even thinking there could be other universes out there which caused the Big Bang.

A good religion lasts about 2000 years before another “cult” takes hold.

Ruth Pyren

Oak Harbor