I never understood why people make such a big deal out of an invisible man in the sky. How can you believe in someone or something that can not be proven or disproven to exist?

You do realize I didn't say it automatically made you smart, right?  However, some of the brightest thinkers in the country are indeed Atheist, or Agnostic.  Didn't read the rest of it, since it has no relevance to my statement.

Yeah but now you're backtracking, first you said every one of the brightest thinkers...now you've lowered it to a quite reasonable "some of the brightest thinkers" which I can agree with and wouldn't have needed to reply to. 

No you're absolutely correct, my apologies, that was way to all encompassing a statement.  Just re-read what I wrote.

I would say though, that those who seek to plug a God or Gods into areas we have no knowledge of (yet), are doing a disservice to humanity, as it openly discourages curiosity and investigation (quite often violently) which is a natural human trait.

Cool, just a misunderstanding then. Because I definitely agree some of the brightest people are atheists/agnostic. 

I updated my original statement, sorry again.

Religion has been used as an instrument by the wealthy to maintain power and control by spreading fear, ignorance and propaganda to brainwash the masses.

I don't think so. There are more pressing issues to take care of.

No. It would be a terrible thing to get rid of too. It would be as bad as oppressing any other basic human right. It is sad to see so many people open to banning it in this thread though, a bit immature of them.

You are absolutely right. By taking advantage of the religion overall, the powerful people are trying to make us believe that it's okay to invade another country and kill others in the name of God and freedom, for example. And this is one of the aspects that really makes religion look like the worst thing for a lot of people.