On religion and drugs.

My favoured analogy for religion has long been drug use. The two are parallel in a number of ways. They cause distortions in perception and behaviour, they tend to appeal more to people who have used them frequently before, they’re often used to control people, their supporters tend to resort to fairly stupid arguments in their defence. The funny bit is that I really do believe they should both be treated the same.
Both should be legal, but should be allowed only for adults.
People under the influence of either should not be allowed to do much more than sit around and socialize.
Neither should be seen as the primary pastime of serious people, and people who become too involved with either should be treated as sick, not criminal or messianic.
Organizations that are devoted to the spread of either should be watched carefully.
Neither should be seen as beneficial without independent scientific confirmation.
Oh yes, and everyone who tries to get other people to join in should be called a ‘pusher’.