gogul:

I entirely agree with you. Greed and the pursuit of power seem to corrupt just about every good thing humanity has done in the past. Religion, science, medicine, etc. for the powerful these are merely tools to subjugate the masses.

I think when it comes to religion we have to remember that religion means different things for different people. There is "individual belief", which is what each and every person believes to be true. There is "theology", which tries to interpret religion in general terms. There is "organized religion", large groups of people following the teachings of some religious or spiritual leader.

Karl Marx called religion "the opium of the masses". His statement was an expression of theh frustration he felt when he saw religion being used to keep poor people subjugated. It was the wrong use of religion that turned many people into atheists.

Science is not much better. Chemistry can be used to synthesize and design medicinal drugs that can save millions of lives. It can also be used to design poisons, toxic gases, explosives, and other weapons. Chemistry is a tool and how we use it determines its value and meaning.

Medicine is the same. You can use medicine to save lives, or you can use medicine to make a profit. Medicine is a weapon too, and biological weapons remain one of the biggest threats to humanity.

We have some very intelligent men (scientists, doctors, religious leader, politicians, businessmen, etc.) and they use their intelligence as a tool to acquire welath and power.

I think that in the end we as human beings are very good at making excuses. "We will develop nuclear weapons to defend themselves from ouur enemies who are determined to destroy us." We developed those weapons, and later we don't know what to do with them. We convinced ourselves that the weapons were indispensable, and now we cannot live without them because we live in a constant state of fear.

Terrorists want to get nuclear weapons and use them in the name of God. It would be unfair to blame God for the things that human beings do. God gave us freedom to act, and organized religion is used to take that freedom away and make us slaves of religion as ideology. It is why I dislike organized religion, and I prefer individual belief. Individual belief makes people independent of the herd mentality. Nobody should be used like a sheep to die or be exploited in the name of God.