Groucho Marx used to say "When the duck comes down you will win $50.00".

Honestly no..it just evolved over time, though I rember always doubting it..I stopped going to church after my 1st communion
As an aside i use that quote by Marx..except I subsitute Sports for religion..

When I started having babies it really made me think hard about ways I could raise them. Religious was not one of them.

Religion is best taught on young children so it can be ingrained in their thought process as adults. As kids they put the fear of god in you and if you disobey him, your punishment is the fury of hell. The first fairytale you hear is the biblical tales of rape, murder and mayhem. No wonder you think a monster is in your closet or under your bed. As adults no matter how much you start realizing the Bible is just a fuckin fairytale, you still have this fear that if you don't believe in him and you're wrong. Straight to hell you go! That's no way to live, always in fear of the unknown by a man that's suppose to love you sooooooo very much.

I show my children way more love and compassion then any invisible man in the sky can.

Ever notice how, when you have a complaint, you never can talk to the boss, the real boss, at a store? It's a clerk who can only do a few things, plus submit a report. That's the secret of religion. The Chief explains that he is only doing as he was was told to do by God. If that upsets you, there is an appeals process, and God is always listening. Pray to Him and He will answer. Notice the similarity between religion and big stores?

200,000 years ago a neandertal stood up, pointed to the tribe across the river and said, " They're our problem. Go kill them! ".
He was the first politician.

No. Atheism has existed as long as religion has. There have always been doubters, and we comprise an increasing percentage of the population.

I did not know Marx said that, but it is my belief also. I think that governments of countries just love some internal civil wars amongst the different religious beliefs. It is like giving a child a sandbox filled with beautiful sand, a shovel, and a bucket to play all day. The division the religious wars keep the government in power and safe. Most wars are over religion.

Both parents and their families were religious, they thought it was a large part of child development. Low and behold I was baptized, we moved a lot always went to a church no matter where we lived. Eventually ended up in a backwoods church with backward ideals. Long story short, I decided church wasn't under the control of some deity, but under the hand of men, warping ideals to suit their wants all too often.

Religion does three things quite effectively :Controls people,Divides people,Deludes people. Carlespie Mary Alice McKinney

I read "1984" and saw the similarities between Oceania and the religion I was in.

Nope... I just let it go without even noticing it while in catholic school. Disappeared. By the time Das Kapital and Mao's little red book came to my hands. I was already "Primed".

i grew up a heathen with an atheist father, so i wouldn't know. but marx's statement always made sense to me: religion encourages people to give up thinking.