Religion

You can start by addressing specific messages to specific people, rather than what you're doing, which is arguing against some general positions that no-one here has actually taken up. And it's "bible-thumping" not "waving."

okay,

I suppose this agrument comes down to stuff like the crusades and the stuff in the middle east, well, their is nothing in the teachings of jesus to promote such things, really they don't in fact the catholic church has officially appologised. It's also worth mentioning that non-religous groups are not exactly innocent of that sort of thing either, the chinese cultural revolution resulted in countless deaths and persecution -intelectuals were litrally buried alive and the red army raped millions of woman and children. It would be wrong to say communism etc are synonamous with rape and murder likewise for 'religion'

For me, the issue isn't really whether there's a god or not. It's about the power structures of religions and the way that religions cosy up to the state.
I'm not that bothered whether someone's got an invisible friend they believe in. I am bothered when they think that that invisible friend tells them what to think and how to act. I'm really bothered when they think that human thoughts and behaviour are pre-determined by some supernatural being.
I'm not an atheist. I'm a materialist. In my opinion there's a huge difference. An atheist defines themselves in opposition to a set of ideas. A materialist has a view f how ideas originate and how social change can come about. The issue of gods is not relevant and doen't need to come into the discussion. The question of institutions and their rleationship to the dominant mode of class society does. Hence the clause in our Aims and Principles.