All This Talk of Religion

Dacia's recent post on religion:
http://digital-liquid.net/index.php?p=126
which was a follow-up to Piojo's post:
http://e-piojo.org/WP/index.php?p=52
have me thinking that maybe it's time I tried to express myself here, to explain some of my own views on religion. But first, I have a little something to share with you.
A couple of years ago I read the book Ishmael by Daniel Quinn and was amazed by it, actually blown away by his take on the Bible and religion. Since then I have read two more of his books, The Story of B and Providence: The Story of a Fifty-Year Vision Quest. Ishmael and The Story of B are both novels that present and begin to explain Quinn's views on religion and more specifically on how mankind is on a track towards disaster. But Providence is portrayed as the story of how Quinn came to have these views.
One passage in Providence stayed with me much more so than the rest of the book, and someone has taken the effort to post it on the web. I recommend you read the entirety of this page:
http://www.blueskypie.com/nonfictionbycategory/biography/biographybooks/providence.asp
More later...