I'll reply to this topic with a story .
I loved Angels & Demons, the book was amazing; the movie had an explosion, 'nuff said. I went to see it with my aunt, cousins, and my girlfriend(I had one at the time). When it came to a point where it displayed St. Peters Basilica, and again later when it came to the Mausoleum of Hadrian(aka, Castel Sant'Angelo) I, jokingly of course, leaned over to my younger cousin next to me, and whispered 'if I was offered a chance to visit that, and the only condition was I would have to kill you, I would consider it.'
Later, after the movie, we were in the car and Tiff(my ex, not my cousin) asked me why I would even want to visit a place dedicated to a religion I don't believe in. I thought about it for a while and I finally came up with the answers:
1. Beauty - This is also the 'art' reason. If you don't find these three things phenomenal in their own form, I feel sorry for you; You are incapable of wonderment.
http://www.romamyhom...lSantAngelo.jpg
http://www.christusr...e/40s-Altar.jpg
http://keralaarticle...rs-basilica.jpg
2. History - My absolute favorite subject, locked in these buildings is the history that shaped today's world.
3. Human Ingenuity - Not only the designing of these buildings, and the art, but also the designing of the religion; the religion itself is truly a masterpiece of art.
4. Curiosity - Self explanatory, that which I do not understand interests me. The concept of the Christian belief fascinates me.
Ok I'm done with this story, it's taking too long for me to say and I'm way too tired at the moment.
Basically, I don't think any religion is bad, in fact I believe them all to be great. Unfortunately, a religion is labeled by it's bads, and not it's good. It is also labeled by the actions of a select few, those select few being the haters, the condemners, those certain people who most of you imply when speaking bad of religion. In essence, the bad apples. They ruin it for everyone. It's always the ignorant ones, too. Personally I know many, and by many I mean 100s, of Christians, Mormons, and other religions...and most of them are great people, these are the people that a religion should be defined on. I know many LDS who are advocates for gay rights, and gay marriage. One of which is a close friend to me, does not believe in gay marriage, but has told me on countless occasions that she makes it a goal of hers not to let her personal religious beliefs cloud her judgement on the rights of another individual. To each his own.
The good that has come of religion, and the good that is in religion, in my opinion, greatly outweighs the negative that has come of it.
P.S. - My life long dream is to enter the Scavi