I know this is a dodgy topic, but I'd love to put out my opinion on it.
First and foremost, I do have experience with religion. I grew up Roman Catholic, but nowadays I consider myself to be an atheist. Just because I am an atheist, that does NOT mean that I am anti-religion. I respect everyone for whatever religion they follow, except for weird cults like scientology. I may respect Religion, but I do not respect some peoples actions on religion. For example, using religion to scare someone into something, oppressing other religions, forcing your beliefs onto others or, for example, choosing your religion over your own family.
I find religion quite interesting. Everyone has different beliefs and instructions to live their life, and the various different teachings. I know mostly Christianity and find many of the parables interesting. One of which is the parable of the drowning man, which I'm aware isn't in the Bible, but is still interesting to hear. It explains how God sometimes won't directly save you, but could send, for example, other people to come save you. The reason that this is my favourite is because it shows that you cannot rely on God to personally come save you from everything, and you have to rely on others. People like Jehovah's witnesses have restrictions on taking blood, but it could have been God who had that blood come to you.
On a different note, I believe religion can bring people apart, rather than bring them together. Many tensions in the world today aren't caused by religion, but rather religious beliefs going too far, even to the point of murder, which completely contradicts almost all religions. Religion is for peace between people, not the opposite. Religion can also prevent others from having fun. I have seen many people tell others what they can and can't do for fun because of their religion. An example of this is the various different festivals that go on. Many Christians say that atheists cannot celebrate Easter or Christmas, and I understand where they are coming from, but many atheists take these festivals as a time to appreciate their family and friends, and not the various Christian events that occur around the time of these festivals.
On the flipside, many say not to celebrate Halloween as it's a satanic festival, and so goes against Christian belief, which is a straight up lie. Halloween originates from the Celtic festival Samhain, which you can read about yourself, but it's pretty much a celebration to welcome the harvest at the end of the summer, where bonfires were lit and costumes were worn to ward off spirits, and was a celebration to honour people's past ancestors, which has absolutely no ties to satan at all!
I'll be sure to add more to this but what I'm trying to say is to respect everyone and their Religion. Religion spreads more hate than love which is completely wrong, and everyone has the right to their own preference, even if that means they follow no religion.
