Spot on LH. Power mongerers always tend to grab for the highest flag waving and point to it in the hopes that the marks won't look at him. A lot of evil has been done in the name of many good causes and many good causes have been corrupted by the power hungry and the glory seekers.

I contend that "Religion" is a product of Man and an imposition between Man and the Almighty. The Bible has very little to say about religion and cult practices. Religion (thres-ki'-ah, in the Greek, i.e. ceremonial worship) is defined by the writer of James as in pure form and undefiled, the care and feeding of widows and orphans! That doesn't sound much like what passes for religion in our world today, does it?

How does the monotheist's God create? I don't know. Outside of what physicists can tell us about "Nothing" (no-thing) I know nothing about nothing! And yet something exists! That is the one tangible piece of evidence in the Universe that something exists. If this is the supreme example of begging the question, so be it. We have nothing else to go on. See God's Dicey Cup thread for further discussion. God must create by self limitation! How else could there be shadow and contrast. How can we truly know good without the presence of evil? I know, I know. All the great questions that have haunted Mankind from the beginning of time. However,

if God has limited His visitation upon His creation, the Bible purports that He HAS visited us in various ways at various times, all a faith proposition. Christians hold forth that Jesus Christ was God's ultimate expression of His love for Mankind, the last word on the subject. His death and ressurection denotes a new age that Christians have called the Age of Grace, the Age of God's complete forgivness and the acceptance of all who will accept His Son. Continuing with His Self limitations, He has chosen to work through His followers as they seek to spread His Word to the world. Christ Himself warned of "false christs" that would come and seek to pervert His Word and this has happened repeatedly since Christ and yet His Word stands and The Spirit of God stands ready to enlighten anyone who truly seeks Him (and not some guru or big haired Alabama preacher).