In a world where more people believe in something, it often takes great courage (or great idiocy) to believe in nothing (or something different) in the face of such an outnumbering -- especially when one cannot take solace in the probability that everyone else has missed what one seems to believe is obvious. So we tend to take comfort in...

1. Convincing everyone to believe as we do in order to even the numbers. (maybe if more people believe as I do I will finally have the ability to convince myself that what I believe is correct *BG*).

2. Shooting holes in every belief system -- sometimes (often?) collectively just to save time *BG*.

3. The inability of the adherents of a belief system to fulfill their belief system.

I really only have a few pet peaves when religion is discussed, and they mostly revolve around the practice of portraying other's beliefs for them (in order to "shoot them down"). When folks state the "whys" and "whats" of their own beliefs, I am not only not threatened, I enjoy it. I do think that anyone willing to share the "whys & whats" of their beliefs are fair game for questions.

That underline function is just the ginchiest.