""If, however, a religion offers you a way of getting together with other people you really like and with whom you share common values...if it offers you a way to build a better community and help the poor, for example...if it helps you to look deeper into ideas and philosophical viewpoints that you find inspiring, and finding greater inner peace...if it motivates you to be a better person and to treat other people in a kinder way...that's NOT a scam.""

I would agree that all of the above activities are very desirable, and in fact I believe that I have managed every single aspect of your outline, including helping others without one ounce of input from any religious organisation.

I even managed to raise about £4000 in one year (jointly with a friend) for the purpose of helping to prevent the collapse of a church spire, simply because the friend in question was a member of that church congregation.

I'm not saying that your comment is untrue, because it isn't!

I am simply pointing out that empathy and human feeling are not the exclusive property of the religious.

After all, in addition to the virtues you describe above, the world's three major religions (I don't count Buddhism in this), have been, are still, and probably always will be busily engaged in trying to slaughter one another by any means possible.

Go figure!

Don T.