As the wonderful Sam Harris says, "Beliefs becomes behaviors." Now, I could list myriad historical examples across Islam or Christianity, contemporary ones as well as those of old, but my reasoning for being against organized religion is deeply personal. My grandfather, a Jehovah's Witness preacher in a small, third world country, made the decision that my grandmother wouldn't accept a much needed blood transfusion during the delivery of my Dad, as it was against the core principles of their faith. She died shortly after giving birth. My Dad, that poor bastard, suffered greatly growing up under the rule of a militantly strict father, and those unresolved emotions, that complete lack of maternal warmth, shaped the person he became and the unfortunate vices he took up to alleviate his pain. So many nights as a kid, when things were really bad, I wondered what it would've been like if I had a grandmother to call and tattle on my Dad to. Would he have listened to her? Would he have stopped drinking and cheating? Would he have hit my Mom and I less? The beliefs became behaviors, and I was on the receiving end of said behaviors for a really long time. I know a lot of others were too.

That being said, I was in the Grand Canyon this past weekend and WHOA. Sitting on a rock at Cedar Ridge, staring around, I couldn't help but feel I was having a borderline religious experience. It was just a personal feeling, and not something I could really describe.