God is enlightenment; religion is close-mindedness. God is freedom; religion is enslavement. God is the way; religion is the wrong direction. God made man; man made religion. You see, I do not believe in religion because of a few simple reasons.

There are over 4,200 religions that all claim that they are right.

So put it this way -- assuming that one is actually true, statistically speaking there is a .0238 percent chance that your religion is "right." Do you not see an issue with this? Isn't it absurd to realize that people dedicate almost all of their lives to something that has a legitimacy almost equal to the chances of winning the Powerball?

For somebody to claim that one religion is right over another is absolutely backed by no evidence but "faith" -- yet again, something that all religions instill into their followers. There is no right religion because they are all wrong. Religions do something very crafty: they tell you that if you do not obey, you will be exiled (sometimes you might even spend eternity burning). So lets take it a step back and really understand why people practice religion. Their religion is all that they know; it brainwashes and it creates order and obedience through fear. I was confirmed as a Lutheran, and for one reason -- my parents made me. It was not my choice.

Religion is a control system.

If you don't believe that religion is just a ploy to control the masses and maintain social order, I highly suggest that you do some research. Religion controls your mind by establishing a faulty perception of religious "ethics" -- you know, that voice in your head that prevents you from participating in natural human acts (such as premarital sex).

According to Michel Foucault, one of the greatest philosophers to exist, the easiest way to control and subordinate a society is through biopower -- or in other terms, controlling the population through the body and sexuality. If you do not practice the decided norm (heterosexuality, in our culture's case), you will be alienated from normality, and you will have to face the consequences of being "different." The reality is that homosexuality (or whatever else floats your boat) are natural practices within humanity and other species, and the ones in power decided to make it taboo for a reason -- to boost the population numbers, and to subordinate others by set standards. So no, you are not rejected in the eyes of God if you practice a sexuality that is not the norm; you are rather a parasite in the eyes of the ones who control the system.

Religion prevents you from knowledge (and encourages close-mindedness).

Have you ever tried to explain how unmistakably accurate the concept of evolution is to your conservative mother and get the reaction portrayed by the woman above? I sure have. Religious views can turn a 45-year-old into a 5-year-old (who is scared to hear that there is a monster under their bed). News flash: if God is brilliant enough to create everything in existence, he's great enough to create adaptations to basically everything. God is an innovator -- he makes changes within his creations because nothing is meant to stay the same, and you know this. Your religion prevented you from understanding this the whole time. So thanks again, religion.

Religion created atheism.

The religious skeptics who fail to develop their spirituality will most likely end up as atheists. The problem here is: we all know that religion is wrong, but that doesn't mean that there isn't a higher form of spirituality that created us and everything in existence. Atheists solved half of the puzzle -- they recognize the problem, but they cut their understanding short because they fail to distinguish the idea of God from religion. Here is an example: the guy who claims, "I don't believe in God because evolution is right" -- yeah, we know it is right, but why are you assuming that God didn't create evolution?

God is depicted as a big bearded man in the sky -- we know that idea is preposterous. Atheists understand how ridiculous the flaws in religion are, yet completely close off the concept of a higher power simply because they lack essential spiritual and philosophical knowledge. If you are interested in the natural pattern of life (derived from the Fibonacci sequence), I encourage you to study the philosophy it entails -- it is called Phi, or the golden ratio (which happens to be God's mathematical order of creation).

Whatever your interpretation of God is, I'm sure he doesn't want you practicing a shackling religion that subordinates, scares and restricts its followers from the valuable fruits of life. God wants us to learn about the world with an open mind, and it is up to you to break free and find out for yourself what lies beyond the closed door you never opened. After all, there is a reason that Socrates' name is still relevant to this day. Open your mind, open your eyes and love the creator that gave you a role in this amazing thing that we call life.