The Opiate of The Masses

[bhikkhu]

10. Religion is a human universal, self-constructing according to our neural arrangement

It satisfies an innate appetite.

A little thought on that, and you realize that virtually all of our behavior is based on satisfying appetites of one kind or another. Its not a matter good or bad, its just how we our brains (and every other brain, at a basic level) operate. We don't have a separate brain from which to look down and judge from. Lacking that, one approach is to form a rather CT construct about how religion was invented by others to control us, which allows us to de-identify from it, to define it as something not ourselves. In fact, most of the "controls" are internal and biological, and we all share them.

I can choose to be an atheist (based upon the science, which is quite good at this point), but I share the same basic construction as anyone who hasn't made the choice, or who hasn't put the mental work in to realize that there is a choice, or who sees no reason or benefit to making a choice.