Irrational Religion

I think the intended objective was to establish that religions are irrational and that the idea of God is unprovable and, therefore, unscientific. If that is true, I think I have understood the article clearly. I guess I cannot find a reason to contend this theory. My question is why does it have to be scientific? Why do we need to prove something? Is it necessary that to explain everything? And, is it necessary to explain everything correctly?

After reading this, I am more confident that I am capable of understanding, to some extent, why believers tend to dislike atheists. That piece was so cold and insensitive, if not bluntly contemptuous. ;-)

This contempt probably stems from the assumption that to understand and to reason is intellectually

Yet, it is effective in bringing out the nonsense we see associated with religions and rituals. It is probably religious beliefs that have contributed to the pervasive dogmatism in our culture. Even then, it is not entirely right to let go of our basic instincts to believe irrationally, for without which we may not exist for long. Let me elaborate. For social animals like ours, water and oxygen are not the only requirements for life. We need to not just exist but co-exist. In a society like ours, concepts like morality, loyalty and love prevails as a consequence. Perhaps, we have prevailed because of them. Belief in God and the ability to excuse our need to explain things we cannot control is one other concept that has certainly helped bring people together, fight together and live together. In an ideal world, maybe we do not need these concepts to bind us (or divide us). We are certainly not living in an ideal world. Neither can we expect to live in one in the near (or distant) future. There is, however, a possibility that we can understand how these concepts benefit us and how we have evolved to use these irrational beliefs as crutches or safety nets or as weapons to survive and to eliminate. To gain this understanding we need not trivialize these ideas or attempt to stymie the people who profess ideologies that are obviously flawed. Because only when we stop antagonizing people can we respect them, and only when we respect them can we communicate with them and only when we communicate with them can we understand them and their