>>7I feel that the cons outweigh the pros in that case. Organized religion brings that sense of community, yes. But community can be accomplished other ways.
I used to attend church for quite a while. I even attended my church's youth group. I didn't necessarily believe what my church believed, but I loved having a community. But I witnessed a lot of hate for people not like them. I saw people being guilted for their every flaw. At some point, it became less about being connected to their god and more about punishing those that don't think the same way. Nowadays, I see it often in the news. I see the US government making decisions based on religion rather than what is best for most of its people. I ultimately left my church because of what I had observed within it.
A lot of people within organized religion, I think, aren't even all that religious. They just want to feel a sense of power and take advantage of people. It's just evil.
I do want to make it clear that I have absolutely nothing against religious people though. Beliefs are a powerful thing and can bring comfort to them, as it does for me! I think it's dumb when people get judged just for being religious. It's such a personal thing, nobody should be judged for it. I only have an issue with religion at the organizational level, because of the harm I've seen it do.
