Here's what I think: 
 
I think the old testament of the bible was written long after oral tradition passed the stories along (did you ever play the game "rumor" as a child?).  People passed on some of the stories.  I think there were also some very wise people who passed on some of the stories, but who meant them as allegory (as in fairy tale.  Fairy tales were originally written as teaching tools for children, to keep them from wandering into the woods, and so they would obey their parents).  I think there were some control freaks who passed on some of the stories to their own end.  In other words, I don't perceive people from the past as being significantly different from the people of today, in that regard.
 
I think that the new testament is confusing.  I think Jesus, during the "lost years",. probably traveled to India and studied with the non-violent Hindu teachers of ancient eastern religion.  I think people defined unusual events as "miracles" because of cognitive dissonance, because that was the interpretation that fit their belief systems.  I think someone moved his body to protect it or that he was very unconscious but not dead.  I think he was a good man.  I don't believe one word about a virgin birth.  In fact, most religions had a virgin birth theme, which was co-opted into Jesus' story.
 
I believe people who participate in Abramic religions (christianity, judaism and islam) think they have the only route to heaven.  I also believe history has proven that these religious zealots have no difficulty bastardizing their religious beliefs to their own end, and committing murder and genocide to prove it.  I believe we americans, operating under our supposedly born-again christian president, are doing the same thing today.   This war is but another crusade.
 
I believe that religion is a form of mass psychosis.  I believe the brain of humans developed deity belief at the same time we recognized our own mortality. It has protected us from our fear of death.  I believe this part of our brain is no longer useful, but it has not been given enough time to "evolve" so we can be rid of magical thinking.  And thereby, perhaps, rid of war.

Posted by Paula to Radfems list.