Why Is Anybody Convinced There Is A God?

Now, I would strongly propose that adapting a model of reality that is not consistent with reality, can most definitely cause harm. People who think this intelligence talks to them and guides them.  I know most religious people are good, but we are promoting tolerance of an institution where people actually think they can hold telepathic conversations with the creator of the universe.  If you can step back and think about that for a second, I honestly don't know how that is any different from being certifiably insane, and I don't mean that to be offensive.  And we know for sure that people act on these "commands" if you will, in very violent ways.  Do all religious people act this way?  Of course not, but continuing to act like we can't speak out against the harm of religious delusion is merely ensuring that these types of delusional actions will continue.

And there are other harms.  Consider how many people don't accept evolution and the general harm to education.  It is a direct result of adherence to religious beliefs that is the cause of taking hundreds of years for humanity as a whole to accept that we weren't the center of the solar system, or that burning witches was a good idea, or that gays are somehow evil, and many of these types of beliefs are very prevalent today.  Religion might very much have been a benefit to society in ancient times, but there's no other way to say it but that it holds us back in modern times.  It is a barbaric belief.