HUMANS ARE A COCKTAIL!

Each human being is a cocktail, all of them different. Like any cocktail they are a sum of their ingredients. Once the cocktail is shaken however, each part cannot be separated from the mix.

The two major ingredients in the human cocktail are nature and nurture. Nature covers those things which we inherited genetically. Nurture, generally speaking, is what happens to us once we're born when many influences come into play: parents, family, community, society, etc.

If religious conviction plays a part in our nurturing then our cocktail will be very different from someone who has a purely secular upbringing. A person who is under the influence of this theology or that will view the world differently and act very differently to someone who discounts any notion of religion or a god (I've experienced both situations).

When religious people are confronted with the fact that there is no evidence to support their beliefs they become agitated and start quoting anachronistic verses at you. When religious people are confronted with the fact that for centuries they have readily engaged in war with those of differing beliefs they become defensive. Our religion is peaceful, they claim, it's those other guys. What about Palestine, Iraq, Afghanistan, etc, where, currently, Jews, Christians and Muslims are at each others throats and carrying out daily atrocities? What about Pakistan and India where Muslims and Hindus are similarly engaged.

When religious people are confronted with the fact that the rulers of their religion have created great empires in the name of religion, tortured in the name of religion, amassed great fortunes in the name of religion, carried out paedophilia in the name of religion, etc, they try to disentangle the cocktail! They say that this is human failure and is nothing to do with god. Then, in the next breath, they'll tell you that their god made everything and they're going to get a large reward when they die. Logic and religion are enemies!

Humans are a cocktail! The fanciful, bitter-sweet drug of religion, if removed from the mix, would make the taste of life better for everyone.