Religious people are sheep...

well If you're saying people needed fear of the supernatural to conduct themselves decently, I agree it is very sad... Though to be honest I'd be more inclined to believe that the previous religions were to blame for barbaric behavior. As to eating lizards alive... The food supply then just wasn't what we have now. I can't blame people for being hungry or for not having the resources necessary to cook their food.

ren wrote: But those same religions caused the dark ages to begin with... add 600 years to the arrival of Jesus and you witness the decline of science in europe... Add 600 years to the arrival of muhammad and you witness the end of the arabic/persian golden age.

What's really fun about that is, that "add 600 years" time frame is right around the time that the bulk of the currently accepted religious texts were written in the first place...

For greater accuracy in both of our statements it should be a range..."add 300-600 years".