> Religion evolved from the minds of men. It is a man made concept and
> only exists within the realm of our mind. There is no physical
> evidence of the existence of any higher power. It is 100% inside our
> own heads.

What about the need for a creator to explain how things were created?
Note that I believe in both evolution and the Big Bang theory.

> Religion was created at first to explain things our ancestors could
> not explain or comprehend. Later it was organised to become an
> instrument of govt to control people and keep them in their place.

What about the separation of Church and State?  Doesn't this
keep religion out of politics?

> Bear in mind most people throughout history were poor and basically
> had very hard lives. Religion was a way to keep them quiet, not to
> question too much their lot in life (and paying taxes etc) by
> promising them riches after they were dead and eternal damnation if
> they did not follow the "rules".

The "rules" that you speak of are both logical and reasonable.  Love
thy neighbour as thy self, for example.

> As above the purpose of religion is too keep people quiet and not
> question why they had shit lives and those in the castle had riches
> beyond theirs.  Think of the 10 commandments- Thou shall not covert
> the neighbours ox.

That is true of some religions yes, but other religious people
campaign against injustice in the world.  Take the rap group Public
Enemy for example.  In their lyrics they talk about many of the
injustices facing black people.

> Churches need you to go to church to justify their own existence
> otherwise there would be no need for them.

Churches get their money from their parishioners.  They don't *need*
anybody to go to church, all they need is money to finance themselves.
Churches do a lot of good work in the world.  Even you can't deny
that.

> Do you know what George Bush said about Iraq. He said" God told me to
> go to Iraq and free the Iraqi people".

So what?  What a person like Bush says has no bearing on whether or
not God exists.