A good question (From Gazette & Herald)

An excellent question, to which the answer is, categorically not. From my perspective, religious 'beliefs' instead designate an intellectually ans emotionally handicapped person who has chosen to become removed from reality. All religions are man made 'structures' requiring inductees to jetison all manner of reason. Throughout the history of humankind we see religion used as a means of explaining natural events for which their brains were not yet prepared to comprehend. The power of the opportunistic to influence the less sophisticated developed into a convenient form of population control. Religions were manufactured with elaborate rituals and accompanying theatricals pandering to people who are prone to mistaking their own emotional responses for 'voices' from elsewhere. This is madness. Dominant European religions have crushed worldwide primitive earth based pagan religions unmercifully and are now reaping the result of that oppression. Extremely radical elements of many religions are taking on a very dangerous and threatening role resembling fascism as they vie for dominance. To an atheist it is the theater of the absurd.