To sum up about the summing up:

"The documentary evidence is what the founders of a religion explicitly wanted" - Some of which was modified, distorted, left out, mistranslated, misrepresented or such throughout the ages. And which was also written for that age specifically - polygyny in Islam was a concession to the polygamy practicing Bedouin, women who walked around *bare-breasted* were admonished to throw a cloth over their bosoms, and you wouldn't tell 4th Century AD peoples that slavery was prohibited. Everything is to be taken in context - witness the ridiculous battle believers in Creation Science wage because of over-literal readings of texts.

"ALL religions have absurd practices" - Some more than others? *shrug* And some practice them more than others, even disregarding the effects of comparative development. Again, this is hard to prove, so we shall not go into that minefield.

Anyhow, my stand is, and always has been that I'm perfectly happy if you flagellate yourself while dancing in front of waxen voodoo dolls and engaging in auto-erotic asphyxiation - just don't try to ban abortion, burn widows on funeral pyres or lop people's heads off with swords for making decisions that concern them only.