Eventually this subject would have come up here sooner or later, but it ended up that I was recently called a "hardcore christian" and "bible thumper" by a buddy after he finished reading all of the articles. Apparently my questioning of the existence of randomness can be likened to "God's path" or something like that. More about how randomness and how it relates to divinity later, now here is my take on all things concerning religion and the apparent problems with religion.
One thing I dislike very much is devout, zealous atheism. People that are so damn sure that there isn't a God, they'll tell anybody who will listen all about it. They do have valid points and they may be right, but their message usually is not packaged with any positive spin. Theists, on the other hand, on average have proven to be the most cheerful and optimistic people. But do they have these personalities because of their beliefs or have these beliefs because of their personalities? Also, if the church a few blocks down the road is busy telling its followers to be nice people, I'm not going to go rocks through their windows and scream "God is dead". As long as they aren't preaching hate towards the rest of society, they are OK in my books.
But I'm not going to go sign up for the nearest religion just yet. There is just too many choices. In my relatively small town, there is at least a dozen churches. All of them a different flavour of Christianity. If you were to attend services, the best thing would be to go on a "church crawl" and go to a different church every sunday. And go for drinks afterwards. You'd meet the most people, hear the most ideas and it will always stay interesting. If you stick to the same TV show every week, you'll never know what else is on.
Then again, you might just want to settle with one that hasn't already condemned you to eternal damnation. To be honest, I really like the idea of hell. And not only because my great grandmother was supposedly from Hell. The concept of hell has to be the most alluring thing about religion. I like the idea that what goes around comes around, and I like to think the assholes of the world will someday join me in the fire.
Now do I believe in God ? Let's say I do. Or let's say I don't. Either way, the only thing it would possibly affect is my own outlook. Beliefs have the capability to warp no reality but my own, and my beliefs should be none of your concern anyways. Sitting around philosophizing and debating about the existence of a superior power is like talking politics. It doesn't really change what needs to be done today at all.
A lot of people blame religion for all the wars and disputes in the world. Just eliminate all those big religions that have been around for thousands of years and never really did get along. On the surface this sounds like a good idea, but it really wouldn't solve anything. Relgion isn't to blame for the world's problems. Stupid people are.
See, there is a distinct connection between Coca-Cola and Catholicism. What is meant by this is that you remove religion, the fanatics will just go ape about something else. Fanaticism doesn't only appear in religion. Everyone could be atheists, but fanatics would still be everywhere. Except they wouldn't be organizing some sort of a prayer group. Fanaticism shows itself in many forms, anywhere from brand allegiance to extreme patriotism. Ever met someone that felt Coca-Cola was just a million times better than Pepsi? Ever talked to someone that thought Apple makes the perfect computer? Ever met somebody that felt that Dodge could never make a bad truck? People believe a lot of things and are basically stubborn about it. Removing religion would not avoid a new jihad or crusade, it would only change its basis. The maniacs would just find a new cause.
And maybe you are a future suicide bomber. What would it take for you to strap some bombs on your chest and blow yourself up? Although highly unlikely, there are a few events that would push basically everyone over the edge. Like, say, your copy of Windows wasn't legit so Microsoft came in and killed your family. After that, I think you'd join the ranks of all the Mac zealots planting iBombs in Redmond. I'm surprised some of the Slashdot regulars haven't already gone kamikaze over software patents and digital rights management.
Terrorism and hatred exists well outside the banner of religion. For some examples of godless terrorists, read about the FLQ, the IRA, the other IRA and the NDP.