If your God needs vengeance, justice, the rite type of behaviour, repentance, respect, obedience, sacrifice, gifts. Then your God is created in the image of man, and not the other way round.

God is ambivalent about religion, man has created religion to use as a structure, a framework to work within to realise god.
All of us are at different levels in this journey towards the divine, the level we are at is dependent on the spiritual work we have done in previous incarnations as well as this one. So religions present a structure , with a moral code in which people at different levels can develop. If you examine islam, just as an example, most practitioners follow their religion, pray everyday, several times and immerse themselves in religious texts. But spiritually, higher up there are branches such as the dervishes and at the top level sufi`s who go beyond the normal constraints, because they have developed to a point where they are ready for that. If you look at each religion this (for want of a better word) heirarchy exists.
That said, not everyone needs religion to grow, some strong souls can develop themselves, however, they must be honest enough and strong enough to face down their ego and they need a strong moral code in which to mature. I have to say that most people I meet on this independent path, are not strong enough and simply do what their egos like, falsely believing they are developing, whilst in fact they are spinning in the same place because they don`t overcome the ego, the ego has simply shape shifted into their spirituality and controls them even more.

Humans are inherently drawn to each other and matching belief systems. Religions act as a cohesive system of protection and inclusion, but distortions occur when egos are added to the mix. Religious principles all mirror the same teachings but those simple truth are always overshadowed by the glitz and rhetoric that generates energy. In the end, religions act as a protection system for the group. I like to believe they're a roadmap to our ultimate truths once we are ready to stop looking outward.

Hello all. On page 6 Astro writes" Religions seem to want to explain how and why the universe was created & how we should behave, if we feel that we believe what's said. So a religion is a system of beliefs and practices concerning our relationship with the Universe, God, fellow beings, ourselves etc."
I agree with much of that. I think the origins of religion lie in constructed narratives which at the time of their construction sought to answer questions which folk were uncomfortable with if left unanswered.
Amongst the many questions which this suggestion might then raise, is--how much of what was trying to be explained is itself a constructed narrative?
petex