^{Let's not mince words: organized religion is a scam, a con, a cynical "business" that not only coerces and extorts money from its hapless "customers", it also denies those people the freedom and dignity of determining their own destiny in life!}

^{In its worst form religion can brainwash people into performing the most heinous acts against others whose only “crime” is that they hold different beliefs! But even in its "best" form, religion still devalues human life terribly. All* organized religions promote the lie that they represent the (alleged) creator of the universe and that our Earthly lives are merely a test, a preparation for some kind of reward after death if we adhere to all the rules and regulations of their particular religion!}

^{Whatever benefits religion may have given us in our primitive past, they do not apply in the 21st century! In Bertrand Russell’s words, “Religion is something left over from the infancy of our intelligence. It will fade away as we adopt reason and science as our guidelines.” It is long overdue that we human beings move beyond the infancy of our intelligence. Let us spit out the soothers we’ve been sucking on all these centuries and confine the manipulative fiction of religion to the dustbin of history!}

^{SMART society is working to destroy the power and influence of organized religion but as responsible citizens we accept that the only way to effect change in a civilised society is through peaceful persuasion…. putting logical arguments in front of as many people as possible, especially people with power and influence. A generation or two ago isn’t that exactly how society's attitudes were changed towards women's rights, racial and gay discrimination and even cigarette smoking!? Hasn't our collective consciousness been raised because of the efforts of those campaigners?}

^{SMART people are doing their best to duplicate those methods with regard to religion. We encourage you, we implore you, whenever you see anything in the media that promotes or attempts to legitimize delusional religious myth and superstition, speak out! Write letters to the editor. Write to your member of parliament – all politicians are sensitive to the wishes of their electorate. Read this SMART site and the others linked to it. Arm yourself with knowledge and logical arguments so the next time it’s appropriate to voice your opinion you can say something that will make any religious listener stop and think! And initially, that’s all we are trying to do, sew some seeds of doubt!}

^{This site contains many seeds of doubt that can be sewn in the minds of religious people. If you have others you think would be useful, please share them with us.}

<sup>* SMART Society's definition of religion is any organisation that:
(1) claims to know for certain that there is a creator of the universe, and
(2) claims that it represents that creator's will on Earth and therefore has the authority to tell people how to live their lives.

** A few religions do not believe in an omnipotent creator God, but they all believe in some kind of super-natural higher power.</sup>