This I believe essay by Paul Thorn

[YankeyMCC]

I just heard this on NPR this AM and the history he tells was pretty shocking, I thought people here would find it interesting.

(snip)
I don't want to be a God fearing man. I believe in religion without fear.

I grew up in a Pentecostal-type faith in northeast Mississippi called the Church of God of Prophecy where my father was the pastor. At the age of 12, I was sent to a summer Bible camp where fear was the motivation for belief. One night the counselors staged a Russian takeover of the camp, simulating the assassination of our camp director. Real shotgun blasts scared us all to our knees where we begged God for salvation.
(snip)

http://thisibelieve.org/dsp_ShowEssay.php?uid=47392&topessays=1

As an atheist and Secular Humanist I believe human progress will in general involve a diminishing of superstition and irrational and false beliefs, and I am often frustrated with moderate or progressive religious followers when I perceive a lack of action or protest against the extreme or dangerous religious sects and people. But this story clearly demonstrates there is a difference between a dangerous and destructive practice of belief and religion and a more benign view (I don't know anything more about the author but I can respect his abilty to at least examine what he believes and how best to live his life and reject a religion and belief in god based on fear), there are good and bad ways to lead a life regardless of your beliefs or lack thereof for supernatural entities or your observance of traditions and rituals of a religion.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. The man is right--religion should not be based on fear

Fear is a tool used by manipulators to get you do to what they want (George Bush is an excellent example). When coupled with religious dogma, it can be destructive.

Personally, I have found the heart of religion to be within my own being--I am my own salvation or condemnation by my actions. The Lord Shiva's dance upon the Dwarf of Ignorance is what I see as the remedy for the decaying dharma of many religious paths--show by your own actions that there is another way. This must be done not by condemning or belittling others,though, because those actions do not do anything except freeze people into their own belief systems.