It's not religion that's the problem...
I read the beginning of a few articles in the paper today -- two about Christianity as a political force, and one about the rising star of Intelligent Design. I also read an article in Salon a day or two ago about young born-again Christians walking the rave scene in Ibiza, the party island off the coast of Spain. They were trying to spread the word of God to the jaded, drug-popping, drunken crowds out there.. a worthy enough cause as it stands.
It reminded me, however, of how evangelical Christianity seems to bring out the most opiate qualities of a religion which has already largely hardened into rote and dogma. Religion is not supposed to answer all your questions, it is supposed to set you to seeking the answers. It is not meant to give you simple bliss that your god loves you, it should set you instead to a soul-searching evaluation to make sure that you have your house in order. Hearing the happy little born-agains chirping about how they don't have to do drugs because just knowing God is out there is the greatest rush you can get... well, even gritting my teeth wasn't enough to get me through more than a page and a half of the Salon article.
I've run across true seekers in Christianity. Fewer, I will admit, than in religions lacking so much of an establishment, but I have met several, and respected them for it. It's not religion itself that's the problem. It's the sheep who want comfort and easy answers, and the other sheep and power-seekers who are willing to supply them.
It's dangerous, and makes my skin crawl when I think about how it's spreading across the country. Opiates do more than make you feel good -- they cloud judgement and take away the will. I've run into enough of the happy blank-eyed automatons to give me nightmares.
Maybe I'll retreat into a cave and read "If This Goes On..." until it all goes away again. Heinlein didn't get it right very often, but that story is looking more like the real world every day.