The best religion

The best religion of course does not exist. The rest is ego and the beliefs are based almost entirely on how we were raised.

That said, in my fantasy (not that I think it is real), the best religion would incorporate these notions"

1. There would be God or a god. We need this out of our submission instincts, and much better than submitting to some idol or ideology or leader or whatever (representation of this god with icons is even better). We leave to the theologians the debates about infinity and so on.

2. For the most part this god does not interfere via stuff like miracles. This shows favoritism, or whim or something silly, and is a noose for the superstitious to hang themselves. True there is suffering, but we must have problems or we would not have problems to solve.

3. This is not, however, a god of suffering. He needs and wants nothing from us except our well being. Martyrs and killing for him is not wanted and counter to his nature. Neither does he need monks and priests and others who separate themselves off from the rest of us as somehow more holy. Nor does he give special messages to special people. That would be a travesty of his universality.

4. He neither needs nor wants glory or worship or service. He is above that sort of petty human thinking. The way to serve this god, if one must, is to do good things and help others and create beauty (music, buildings, gardens, etc.).

5. In the end we can trust our souls or spirits are well cared for, but speculation as to how is, at this level of our existence, only something we can speculate about.