Have you ever wondered if the devil is the true author of the main religious books of our time: the Torah (and its near cousin the Old Testament), the New Testament and the Koran? For Communist atheists, their devil-inspired books no doubt include the Communist Manifesto by Marx and Engels.
If it seems preposterous, consider that the devil is not only evil, but quite tricky, and humans are gullible. I mean, a burning bush sounds like the fire of hell to me, and the Jews were told they were the rightful owner of then occupied lands. That story still rings with hell more than heaven.
The devil easily could have written some books that made people think they were doing good, but were really doing the devil's work. After all, those good books have lead to the Muslim conquests through jihad, Roman Catholic Crusades (both of them), the Spanish Inquisition, the ongoing fighting in the middle east over Israel, al Qaeda's worldwide attacks on all infidels, the KKK, Catholic-Protestant fighting in Northern Ireland, Nazi Germany's extermination of the 6 million Jews, and the list goes on. Sure, not all conflict is related to religions, but I know of no war (or football game for that matter) in which each side believed God was on its side.
Can there really be such a thing as holy wars? So-called religious folks have supported cruel systems like the taking of the Americas (north, south and central) from the indigenous people, the African slave trade, book burnings, Salem witch burnings and more. The world has undergone literally hundreds of such wars in the name of religion, so you truly have to wonder if religions are founded by God or by the devil. Or perhaps the devil just subverts how fundamentalists mistake the words of God's wisdom as recorded by humans in unfamiliar cultures, in times with inadequate written histories, and in ancient languages that are not fully understood today.
Clearly, there are many outstanding religious figures. Mother Teresa and Father Damien come to mind in the Catholic tradition. Many hospitals, schools, orphanages, halfway houses and soup kitchens are operated by religious groups. Missionaries not only spread their religious messages, but they often come with food, schools and medicine. It just seems to me that these are the exceptions in the religious world, and that a typical person who claims he is Catholic, for example, may not participate directly in any of those good works, may only donate a small portion of his income and nearly none of his time, and often lives in swanky neighborhoods with posh churches. This is hardly the worldview of Jesus whose example was of charity, poverty, humility and providing comfort and aid the oppressed.