Bunnahabhain, I find your reaction to the Bible to be quite understandable. ;-) Different people are comforted by different things. I am continually amazed that ANY human being can imagine that ONE book and ONLY one book out of all the books in the world can contain the one and only truth about God, Life, and the Big Picture!!! It's an astounding viewpoint for any sentient being to hold.

But this statement:

"People who do good things are good people, and people who do bad things are bad people."

KEE-RIST! That makes Dick and Jane books sound like the workings of a brilliant mind in comparison.

And may I add that ALL governments and authority systems of any type whatsoever allow people who do bad things to still be (considered as) good people, as the bad things are done in the name of that higher authority.

War, for instance, is a bad thing. Killing people is a bad thing. Destroying property is a bad thing. So are spying, lying, wasting, and stealing, as well as cheating, misleading, misusing, torturing, terrorizing, oppressing, and otherwise persecuting. All these things are done by secular authority systems...with or without the approval or influence of organized religion.

You don't NEED religious beliefs to act like an idiot.