text: is religion an illusion created for poor people so they can have hope? im asking about all religions, not one in particular one could say the same for advertising. or sports. or just about anything.   picking up religion, and examining every misuse of it is not the right way to look at religion. if a butterfly falls in your cup of coffee and make it undrinkable, would we conclude that butterflies were created to spoil coffee?   butterflies do much more than die in cups of coffee, and coffee is rendered undrinkable for a hundred other reasons.  the point is, nitpicking on religion is not logical. i am not poor. religion gives me hope too. that should kill this line of argument.   religion isn't something that people invented in the past 1500 years to kill each other. religion is a way to understand life - the totality of life. there are many "problems" with applied religion, the biggest one is that people are selective in following religion, and then blame it all on faith.  a writer once said that cultures are not based on customs. cultures are different based on how people answer the question about life and after life. in other words, how people answer the questions: who am i? where did i come from? what am i doing here? where will i go when i die? what will happen there?  to me, that is also the definition of religion: a set of answers to the above questions. to apply such a big thing on individual examples is misunderstanding religion. secondly, if people behave in this world as if there's no tomorrow, and someone else suffers from their acts - why blame it on any faith?  religion, esp abrahamic faiths, are much much more than getting fascinated with nature. in abrahamic tradition, that is just the beginning. prophet abraham started with observing nature, and was disappointed that the stars, moon, and the sun all "vanished." so he said, "if this thing sets, it cannot be my god!"   god and religion are larger than people trying to use them as some kinds of solutions to everyday problems. without changing the fundamental mindset - without answering these five questions above - one cannot understand and practice religion. and cannot blame the human faults on god.