i think religion is a 100% man-made concept. unfortnately, it is ego-based. at one time each "religion" had elders that came up with a bunch of standard beliefs, and made rules and regulations for the masses to follow (as sheeple) in order to be saved. you needed "the church" and the edlers to teach you all the rituals, dogma, etc, because the assumption was we are not worthy of figuring it out on our own...and in exchange we gave them money, built temples, etc, and the cycle continued through the ages.
now god, that is different. there have been many people who were capable of freeing themselves of ego to see that god is wthin...and those people were also trying to show us how to save ourselves, not create relgions. we all have that divine spark. and if we can only "be still and know" we can experience that, and become one with the father (or universe knowledge). this is what the huna (polynesia) refer to as the 3 selves (high-middle-lower self), catholic church calls the trinity (father, son, and holy spirit). western tradition calls the subconscious, conscious, and our soul.
and i think thats was JC was trying to tell us when he said "...the kingdom of god is already here, it is within..." scriptures say that JC also said the way to get to the father is through the "son"...and the symbology of the sign-of-the-cross places the "son" at your heart. so if you think about it, the way to get to universal knowledge, is through your heart.
anyways...my 2 cents on religion. i am a catholic, but since i began to study these things over the last few years in greater detail ive learned to listen to my heart more which augments the catholic dogma and puts a whole new light on things for me (no pun intended).
