> I have noticed that many people on this list engage in "religion
> bashing". Most of the accusations against religion on this list are
> unfounded or unfair. For example, ridiculing "faith" as belief in
> something regardless of proof purposely ignores the meaning most people
> use for the word.
That is the exact meaning of the word, and it is how most people use it, even those who claim to be demonstrating it. Faith is when you postulate some statement for which there is no proof or disproof, and say that since you don't know whether it's true or false, you will just take a "leap of faith" and believe that it is. As science and society progress, strong evidence is often uncovered which refutes a particular religious belief (for example creationism), in which case faith becomes the belief in something for which there is strong evidence against. If you are using the word "faith" in a different manner then most people, please detail your personal definition.
> Not to say that most religious people aren't ignorant, but it's not
> justified to condemn all religion based on its adherrents. You couldn't
> dismiss extropianism, for example, just because no one has been
> completely extropist.
I'm not sure about other people, but I condemn religion based on its most
fundemental properties, on its foundless belief in God, and on the abnormal
psychological considerations which are usually the foundations of such a
belief (low self esteem, preference for "feel-good" theories rather then
true ones).
You seem to think the criticism of religion comes from the fact that many
religious people are hypocrites. I disagree with such criticisms - I think
the christian businessman may believe a bunch of crap, but at least he's
living in an acceptable manner. This is a step above those who really apply
the statement "it would be easier to fit a camel through the eye of a needle
then for a rich man to get into heaven" to their lives. If there were
someone who applied religion to his life completely, he would be a complete
idiot.