On religion: XY's side of the story

haha the teapot problem is interesting... you should deal with that soon!

and strictly by definition you are not a 'humanist' - you are a 'secular humanist'. in this world there are 'religious humanists' who believes in God but also holds that moral philosophies do not necessarily have to come from religion. and humanism in its initial forms does not rule out God in people's lives (not at all!) - check out 'renaissance humanism'. seeking the path of God and to be close to Him is fundamental to renaissance humanist scholars.

perhaps i didn't make myself clear enough: i have never said that religion is absolutely needed to promote goodness in people - even Christians know that it isn't true. i said that religion is needed in society because ultimately people need to fall back onto somewhere when everything fails. when your own life philosophy, personal relationships, future prospects, etc. all break down and you cease to have any hope and vision for yourself, religion is the only thing that you can fall back on. i would say that religion acts as a 'sanctuary' - and Christians do see it that way as well.

i have read and heard about moral philosophies from different sources and i also find them similar. since you brought up Matthew, if you bother to read through Matthew 4:12 to 7:27 (the first set of Jesus's teachings in the Gospels), you will find things that are quite similar to those taught in Buddhism.

examples:

Mt 5:43 - 48; Mt 6:1 - 4, Mt 7:1 - 4

they all have corresponding Buddhist teachings which i have heard from my mum, who is very into Buddhist philosophy. not so much of Confucianism though, because i can find descrepancies.

my mum just told me about the difference between 大乘佛法 and 小乘佛法: the former stresses on enlightenment through reason and induction; the latter emphasizes more on rules and rituals and achieving enlightenment through such practices. she said that Christianity is more like 小乘佛法 - which i agree.

the reason for me to find Christianity appealing is because of several reasons, these reasons have been with me for a long time, and i didn't realise it until i got here.

1. i prefer a sense of humility over the feeling that i am controlling everything. to use something i always tell myself: i need to know that i am not the biggest one in my life.
2. i find it comforting to know that there is someone who is in charge of everything, and the notion that He is perfect.
3. i needed guidance in my life - by someone personal that i can talk to and pray to and not merely moral philosophies. i have tried both and find the latter lacking - because that way i'm still left alone by myself; it's not a good feeling when in a trying situation.
4. i find it difficult to be thankful about things when there is no one to be thankful of.

thus, my choice is more personal than philosophical. like the guy a homeless shelter/transitional home that i visited said, religion is a realisation - if you do not feel that there is a spiritual need for yourself, then there is no need for a religion. Most Christians do not try to psycho others to become Christians - in fact you would be lucky to find one who is willing to talk to you openly about their believes if you are a non-Christian. A lot of people are wary of that because they are afraid to face challenges and ridicule - which is very very commonplace - and this is something we have to sort out within ourselves. This is in contrast to common wisdom - I realised this only in the recent years - because there are a lot of vocal ones running around preaching the word unnecessarily excessively and regardless of what the silent majority thinks.

another reason why i decided that i can start following Christianity is because i managed to reconcile believes with logic and reason. i have talked about that before and i know you do not agree with me, because you feel that rationality ought to be a work in all aspects of one's life; but i do not think that is entirely necessary. i have said before last year - sometimes i just have to follow my heart as i do my rationality assessment (i.e. what are the consequences if i do this? and whether i can bear the consequences?) - but what i didn't say explicitly last time was, after that i'll leave everything to God.

many religious people are top-notch professionals - they are not, like you said, people with lower IQ. you said that it would be interesting to have a few terrorists from a*star - my view on this is, it is not only religion that can bring people towards fundamentalism - anything can. and people become terrorists because they are being brainwashed - manipulated - as they followed a sect that is politically hostile to America. St Joan of Arc was burnt at the stake because the English wanted her to die, Galileo was held in house arrest because he ridiculed the Pope, Copernicus was widely thought to be persecuted by the Church because Enlightenment scholars wanted to push their case, the Crusade was launched because the kings in Europe couldn't deal with their own internal problems so they shifted their people's attention to the Muslims in Jeruselem - it is more like religion being hijacked by politics rather than just because people believed in God. There are secular terrorists like the Japanese Red Army and the Irish Republican Army too!

But I have to agree with you that religion is an easy way out. it is definitely harder to figure things out and tell right from wrong by yourself than to ask God and look through the Bible for an answer. Just like the difference between the two different forms of Buddhism - it's harder to follow the big one than to follow the small one.

Thus conclusions:

1. My reason for choosing religion is personal, and not because of a preference of moral philosophies.
2. Religion is not absolutely necessary to uphold morality in society, but it does play a very large role.
3. Society needs religion because ultimately people need a sanctuary to run to in times of need.
4. The ultimate cause of hostility is not because of what people believe but how people practise what they believe - and how personal, local and broader politics gets interwoven into the picture.
Even if there is no religion in this world there will still be hostility and terrorists.
5. Yes religion is a relatively easy way out, but I think the easy way out is more for me. Rather than searching for the truth myself I rather save that energy to do something else...

So am I being clear enough this time?