>>17717653morality, sanity, and believing in oneself do not require religion, but they exist in the same category as religion and are equally susceptible to your critiques. maybe your some ubermensch who can have these things without any external guidance (i personally doubt that you are), but for the majority, some kind of established doctrine helps avoid the need for personal psychological strife. the most basic form of this external doctrine is religion.
of course, when you’ve got a bagillion people sharing in the same ideals, that creates the opportunity for power and abuse, but the ideal form of religion is non-clerical and stresses both independent spiritual development and the need for people to help each other.
