If you ask me what I think of religion, well, I believe it's personal. As personal as when to have a baby, or even if at all. It's as personal as your taste in clothes, or food, or other lifestyle choices. And definitely not something someone can dictate, or that you should adhere to 'just because'. Instilling fear and invoking the wrath of the Gods because a ritual wasn't followed/ wasn't 'done right' (who's to decide what's right and wrong, anyway?) - I'm really not sure that that's on the right side of cool. Ask me whether I'd conform to X/ follow X practice because 'it's prescribed', I'd respond with a polite but firm shake of my head. Give me a reason, a valid, logical one, and you may just see my head tilt in assent. May.
Here's the thing: sometimes, with the rigid definitions of religion we follow, we tend to draw (hate) lines. Make comparisons, or even worse, typecast a people/ community/ sect purely on the basis of the religion they follow. Just because a person you may know - whether directly or indirectly - is bad/ evil (gasp!), it's so easy to stereotype all the people who belong to the same community as one. Taint them with the same brush, only because of the one stray gone wrong. Doesn't this lead to lower tolerance levels, widespread antagonism and ultimately have far-reaching consequences that don't do anyone much good? And that's being polite, really.
Me, I'd rather I knew someone basis the person s/he is, and not where they go to pray.
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