Hope is the great "as if" we live by. We all need some central 'as if' in our lives. Take the abused wife needing to live life 'as if' there's some good in her husband. The religious zealot living life as if right and wrong were prescribed by the scripture; and "as if" the scripture itself, was the unequivocal translation of God's will.

It is not difficult to make the case that religion, particularly fundamentalist religion, is one of the greatest negative forces in human history. How many wars, how many tortures, how much suppression, how much sadism, has been created by religion?