I guess I should probably address these comments. Look, I'm not a hardliner. I don't think religion is pure evil or anything. I just think you guys are pretty optimistic about what religion offers, what its purpose is, and particularly how it is used. Some people will take what they learn in church and genuinely apply it to their life and become a better person for it. But others will take phrases from the bible and use them as weapons.

"If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them." That's a real phrase from the bible. That's not "love and kindness and goodwill towards man." That's saying that homosexuals are an abomination and should be put to death. The bible is littered with these offhand remarks about who is good, who is evil, and what we should do about the ones we don't approve of. And the majority of time, the answer is "kill them."

I'm not disputing that some churches preach mostly the good stuff, but others preach the bad stuff too, and there is a reason that something like gay marriage is not accepted in the majority of states in the US. That reason is the bible. That reason is the power and pervasiveness of christianity in our society. I simply will not accept that religion is only used for good, because it is so far from the truth. Quite often it is used for evil.

The inherent problem is that there are many, many things written in the thousand plus pages that make up the bible, and most of them are open to interpretation. There are many horrible things said in the bible, and to the extent that they are believed and followed, that can be an extremely negative thing for everybody. The homosexuality example is one of many.

"If a man commits adultery with another man's wife--with the wife of his neighbor--both the adulterer and the adulteress must be put to death." Is there any relevance to that statement in modern society? Is that really a worthy punishment to the crime?

If all you take from religion is the golden rule, that's fine. But don't tell me that is all that there is to the bible. There is so much more to it than that.