We dont need a guide, especially not one that is thousands of years old. The problem is we have people who dont know what 'moderate' is even if it hit them hard on their head. To say we need religion as a moral compass even until today, is outright stupid. We cannot keep falling back on the argument that we need religion 'to keep the sheep in line', in reference to brainless people who will do everything they are told, ironically the very same people who will gladly strap bombs to themselves and blow up a market square, the very same people who blindly will disagree that there is something fundamentally wrong with the Catholic church in the present age.

Have we really gone so much backwards that we need a god-knows-how-old-piece-of-literature to tell us how we should live and how we should not? No, common sense should prevail, but sadly, common sense is lacking.

Religion has become largely irrelevant these days, and its being used for purposes far different than what it was originally intended for. Of course, not everyone is like that, but I think when you've seen one you've seen em all.

People can argue that religion makes them complete, makes them whole, that their belief in god fills them with a sense of purpose, but all these are superficial arguments, in the sense that do we, as humans, have come to specifically require all these things in our lives? No, that is not the case. For if it was so, how is that we can have so many atheists (Numbers increasing by the day, watch out!) who lead exemplary lives without the need to turn to any supernatural deity for guidance.

I repeat myself - Religion is irrelevant is modern society. The only problem is that the disparity in intelligence quotients in humans are so disparate, some form of book-keeping device is needed to control the lower end of the intelligence spectrum. What a pity...

True, but what is right or wrong varies so much from individual to individual, even if we do not factor in religious brainwashing. To be more succinct, religion is largely irrelevant because it seeks to provide something that should already have been in humans from the start - common sense, the ability to freely distinguish facts from lies, right from wrong, no matter how disparate such definitions may be, the imperative that drives us to act based on principle and accepted norms, not based on our every whim.

I do not even wish to touch on how religion has been perverted in the modern age by people who abuse its very context, I've been merely speaking of the need, or the lack thereof, of religion in human life as a guiding light. Any decent human being growing up should be able to infer him/herself how to act, to think, and to behave, the brain is amazing in that respect, and there is no need for a third party.

As food for thought, consider this: Would there be less crime in the world if religion was more widespread (Nevermind the deviant teachings). I think not; I believe a person who commits crimes does it on his/her own volition, the voice inside, or some desperate drive born out of circumstances, but to put things very simply, religion is not something that will circumvent a person's inner desire to be bad. Highly dubious.

Unless you subscribe to a polytheistic religion