Everyone who has faith/religion is probably certain of one thing: No one really knows what happens after you die. No one really knows if there's going to be a white light, a tunnel, and then everlasting happiness with the God of your choosing, or if you just fade into the cosmos. Some people believe in the after-life stories of their faith strongly enough that they consider it knowledge, but truly, no one "really" knows.
I personally, have faith. I am a proud Pagan woman; but that does not get in the way of the real world. I have my spiritual beliefs, and then I have the physical world, and my beliefs in that. The ability to separate the two is what separates people with religion, and religious extremists who have lost touch with reality. I'd like to cite the Muslim religion at this point. Many followers of Muslim faith and customs are perfectly rational, functional people who live rich and fulfilling lives. But you never hear about those Muslims in the main-stream media, or anywhere else really, because all anyone wants to talk about are the Muslims who are blowing things up and assaulting people because they've drawn or shown the image of Muhammad.
Sweden - Over a picture drawn in 2007 of the Prophet Muhammad as a dog, two men aged 19 and 21 broke into an artist's house and attempted to burn the place to the ground. This is over a picture. This wasn't even the first time it had happened. The artist had received threats from other sources, including al-Qaida. He was assaulted while giving a university lecture, and was even the target in an alleged murder plot involving a woman who called herself "Jihad Jane."
Does anyone else see the insanity here? There is a thing called religion, where sensible people take comfort and value in their faith; and then there is extremism, where people lose all sensible touch with reality and ruin it for the rest of us.
Of course Muslims are not the only people to have ever taken anything too far. I'm certain that in almost every religion, some people will eventually lose touch with reality and do things that do not make sense to the rest of the world. But regardless of your faith, people need to keep touch with their reality, and stop religious extremism. There is a profound difference between having faith, and being controlled by it.
