Hinduism is one of the least confrontational religions in that it accepts that all gods are simply different aspects of the same divinity, so that religion actually serves to unite disparate believers rather than divide them. It's also a root of Buddhism, the only religion I know that, in its purest form, has no god other than the personification of a divine state of understanding.

Yeah, I'd say they're all pretty equal-opportunity bonkers. Talking snakes and pillars of salt are no more or less weird than flying horses or guys with six arms.

All of culture is intersubjective. That is why religion is regional. But so is money, fiat money, everyone believes, so it works. All of government too is intersubjective, we believe in it so it works. To bad it works against most of us

Not all religions / sects take themselves as literally / seriously. To some believers, these are symbols and metaphors and not literal beings. Some religious folk are aware that they are telling each other campfire stories; some are not. And of course it's not binary; there are all the shades in between those two understandings.

Then there is, for example, Buddhism and Taoism which don't have any actual deities, just the ritual and tradition and cosmology and clergy.

So I would say some are less delusional than others. But ultimately they are all delusional, for some given value of "delusional".

You have to realize that before science and mass communication (books), religious notions were essentially unopposed. People really didn't have alternatives to the fairy tales except other fairy tales. However, after books and the advent of natural science, the existence of alternative explanations are a relatively recent challenge to religion, especially with Galileo and Darwin. As natural science has improved, the true character of reality reveals just how absurd the fairy tales are.

In this age where people choose whether to be informed or not, those choosing the 'or not' option may develop an allegience to these fairy tale memes. This allegience is akin to the obedience one allows when they are hypnotized. Obedience to outdated notions in the face of commonplace facts is a serious issue when it comes to public policy, as with reproductive medicine and climate change. When 40% of the population, or more, believe nonsense and reject verified science, that is a feature where democracy falls on its face.

The behavior of religious people becomes a danger to the rest of society, and we are in a fight for survival over this fact whether we realize it or not. We must be militant on governance based on facts or risk extinction.

People who are genuinely delusional may be helped with medication. People who are self-deluded as a matter of social convenience can be educated. However, the BIG question is whether we simply try to ostracize the self-deluded as Sam Harris recommends, or take stronger steps to disenfranchise them from political influence. Still a third option is to research the underlying psychodynamics and/or neurochemistry and enact a physical means (virus, deprogramming) to reduce the allegience to BS. We would all like to play nice on this subject, but the clock is ticking, and everything is at stake....

Fairy tales come in variety of bs packages. Its all the same to me.

You may want to read "God is NOT great", Christopher Hitchens wrote it pretty much for all religions where his core message is that they poison everything

Funny. I guess delusion is an appropriate word. But they're rooted in a different time and place, many/most religions. Is it fair to call them delusions...I have no idea.

BUT what would life be like without our pantheon of gods and religions? I'm partial to the Greek Gods of old. What would my life have been without Mt Olympus to ponder over? Not in a religious sense, but historical maybe

Yes.

All gods talk through their asses.

They are ALL rooted in delusion.

Sprinkle Me With Fairy Dust And Put Me On My Unicorn!! It's all bullshit!

Believing things with no proof is a delusion be it subtle or gross.