Little Hawk said: If religion stirs greater reverence and love for life and humanity in a person, that is good. On this basis any fallacy is A Good Thing, provided only that it makes someone, somewhere, a better person.

It's a seductive argument, not least because it saves us having to concern ourselves with what the truth might be. But it's a specious argument too, because any religion is likely to affect different people in different ways. Ranking religions according to the ratios of people they influence for the greater good would plainly be farcical, so in the end it can't be ducked - we should be seeking the truth, not placebos. And if the truth turned out to be uncomfortable, that would be no basis for replacing it with lies.

To thine own self be true.