Isn't religion just for people who are not strong enough to survive by themselves, on their own, without it?

I think it is an extension of old Jewish practices of blood sacrifices to gain God's favour and scapegoating your sins and misfortune onto another living creature so that it dies with your problems leaving you clean and happy.

More of a get out of gaol free card if you asked me.

You can go further. The entire concept of Hell even existing and that he sends people there to be tortured and punished for all eternity seems kinda weird for a so called perfect, loving, and forgiving creator to create.

Many people were crucified by the Romans. A control thing. Worked pretty well. Those were the times it was done. What horrifies me is that today, in the 21st century, people "worship" and glorify a picture of a man being tortured to death. And children are encouraged to look at it and be grateful.
And wear a cross round their neck. Good job he wasn't killed in an electric chair - those would be more difficult to manufacture and probably a bit scratchy on a chain round your neck.

I didn't succumb to the temptation and eat the apple. That is like blaming nationalities for atrocities that happened before they were born, and just the other day I told a strictly devout catholic that I have not sinned. According to his beliefs and indoctrination, I am a sinner, but if I don't think I am, I am not going to persecute myself worrying about your judgement of me.

Of course

It's pretty F-ed up to tell this story to children. Or to tell them they're going to hell. It impairs their learning skills. Kids need to learn to think for themselves. Not to be told what to think, but how to think.

The entire notion of a scapegoat blood sacrifice for the sins of humanity is entirely a guilt trip. "He died for your sins." Whatever.

you know I think the bible is possibly based on a few facts that have been blown out of proportion and exaggerated. maybe mary shagged someone on the side and lied rather than get stoned to death. maybe the sheep pen was all there was and maybe Jesus spoke out just like we are right now. they didn't stop burning witches until about 300 years ago, imagine what it was like 2000 years ago.

As I understand it, animal sacrifices were the thing of the time. Your sins were somehow placed into a lamb that was then killed. I think it was prophesized in some manner and Jesus crucifixion was suppose to be symbolic of this sacrifice, dubbed the 'lamb' of God which would permanently remove 'original' sin. People make a big deal about Jesus' suffering but I think that misses the point, it's the forgiveness of original sin that I think is what is theologically important. I heard a minister wonder what armies attacking Christian armies would have thought about the Christians carrying public execution devices (crosses) among their ranks

Everything about the crucifixion was a manipulation, created by Paul, a Greek cult leader who, for some reason, fixated on Jesus, a man whom, by his own admission he had never met, and turned him into a Hellenistic God, the Christ.

We have God (Zeus), knocking up some human girl and creating a demigod, Jesus (Christ). From there it's just a mishmash of mythology: The hero has power to heal and raise the dead, so Zeus killed him to control the population(Asclepius). He goes to hell (Hades), returns from the dead (Dionysus?) having "conquered death." Add in the Horus, Isis and Osiris mythologies from Egypt, and you've got a brand new religion. It was through that lens that the Gospels would later be filtered.

Paul was petty, vindictive, misogynistic, homophobic, anti-Semitic, and volatile, and so was his Christ. That's why we don't see Christians working hard to follow Jesus, because Christ is so much better. If you read the New Testament, it becomes painfully obvious that Christ is the antidote for Jesus.

In Jesus' story, he set up a raid on the Temple, pissed off the Romans, and they killed him. In Paul's story, the Romans were the good guys and it was the Jews who killed Jesus (even though none of the Gospels agree on how it happened). So there's a ton of manipulation. And when a "faith" is BUILT on manipulation, it makes it easier for anyone who wants to use that manipulation to their own ends. That's why Evangelicals are so in love with Corporate America and the Free Market. They were manipulated into that belief back in the 1920s by robber barons trying to hang onto their wealth in the face of strong public anger.

I've always felt that religions were a form of mass mind control.