Religion, or more specifically faith, is never a "crutch" for believers. It is never a justification for behaviour that is harmful. Always it is up to the individual.
Of course it isn't a crutch to those who use it. But if I need something, I don't have to pray for it, talk to a god about it, etc. I work for it. If I notice something lacking in my character, I work on it. You'd be surprised how much I can do without having the "benefit" of a faith. I've also been free of having to pay homage to deities, I manage to solve my problems without the aid of deities, and I almost always manage to avoid the bad stuff laid out in your commandments and cardinal sins, with the exception of sloth. I do get a bit lazy now and then. But, I'm not going to head off and seek forgiveness from a priest in a box. I'd much rather reap the rewards of my laziness without involving anyone else. So, whatever "faith" is to those who use it,it still looks like a crutch to me.
People seem to have managed to use their "faith" as a reason to pull off all kinds of atrocities.
And, I know it is always up to the individual. That's what I've been saying.
Um, I'm not trying to tell people that their faith is no good, just that if they say they follow a faith they should bloody well follow it faithfully , use a little thought instead of blindly following dogma, etc.
Had a few teachers that really pushed St. Thomas Aquinas...I must have been through his "Summa Theologica" so much in those years that it is surprising I haven't put all the words I read into my memory!! (Though I still enjoy browsing the works to this day) Funny, 3/4 of the academic material we studied in Seminary is almost never used in actual ministry...
