Socially, I was raised a Christian. As a teenager, I decided to read the bible in its entirety. This led me to read the Torah, the Quoran, and many other religious texts. The main conclusion I reached after my little theological rebellion, is that western religion assumed I was an idiot, and that tgey want me to believe the absurd can actually happen. Eastern religions were less cooky, but still demanded a belief of the absurd. Asimov was spot on. Someone who uses logic and reasoning will see nothing but absurdity in the Bible, and I contest, most other religions as well.

I am in complete agreement with this sentiment. It wasn't until I started to seriously doubt my faith, that I began to re-read the Bible, by book, chapter, verse and line ... and I grew more doubtful with each passage. I then found the writings (speeches) of Robert Green Ingersoll, that 'Great Agnostic' of the 19th century, who had these excellent words of advice:

"All that is necessary, as it seems to me, to convince any reasonable person that the Bible is simply and purely of human invention—of barbarian invention—is to read it. Read it as you would any other book; think of it as you would of any other; get the bandage of reverence from your eyes; drive from your heart the phantom of fear; push from the throne of your brain the cowled form of superstition—then read the Holy Bible, and you will be amazed that you ever, for one moment, supposed a being of infinite wisdom, goodness and purity, to be the author of such ignorance and of such atrocity."
The Gods, 1873