RELIGION

What can we make of the fanatics of Islam? It is unnerving to consider that great numbers of true believers are willing to end their lives and that of many innocent others either in the name of God or because of blind fury at the wrongs done them by the western powers over the past few centuries.
And yet. Back in the middle ages Christian true believers behaved just as savagely. Suicide attacks may not have been the thing then, but countless numbers were willing to die in battle for the greater glory of God, believing that heaven awaited them. Kill the infidel and get the heavenly reward - the same belief that drives the Muslim fanatics of today. The Christians massacred each other over minor points of dogma.
Until the age of eighteen or so I was a devout Roman Catholic. But several years prior to that came the first chink in my belief. Our parish priest invieghed against free thinkers.
In the same sentence he condemned thieves, adulterers, free thinkers and other evil doers. We should believe what we're told and not question it because it's the word of God. I came away wondering what could be wrong with thinking for oneself?
The point is that religion teaches people not to think. Is that the meaning of the Good Shephard? We should all be sheep? More on this later.