Religious Tyranny, Spiritual Truths

I believe that historically, many of the world's problems were caused, at least in part, by religion. The Crusades of the Middle Ages, sanctioned by the Roman Catholic Church to restore Christian access to the Holy Land which had come under the influence of Islam, is one such example. This appears to have led to the chaotic situation we now have in the modern world, in which there have been atrocities carried out by extremists claiming to represent Christianity and Islam, but who are merely using the religious differences to generate hatred between peoples. Throughout my life I had little interest in religion except for the 'hatch, match and dispatch' use of the church. Religion, I felt, had its place in life but, much to the irritation of the clergy, it was only being used by many people who wanted to be married in church, (because that was what you did), their children Christened, (just in case there was such a place as Hell), and ceremoniously buried or cremated to ensure their place in Heaven. I also became aware that many people who were members of the various Christian religions, were fearful of contradicting the hierarchy of the church, fearful of questioning the teachings of the Bible and fearful of going to hell if they did not accept the dogmatic teachings of Christianity Over time my interest was aroused about stories of life after death and the work of mediums, sometimes through watching television programs and reading books as well as by having occasional conversations with friends and work colleagues. Perhaps inevitably during my teenage years I and my friends experimented with an Ouija board, managing to frighten the life out of ourselves with immature questions such as 'is there anybody there?' and 'who will be the first to die?' I have since learned that if you ask for 'anybody' you will get 'anybody' and that without an experienced medium in attendance all sorts of unpleasant things can happen. The religion of Spiritualism was often mentioned and I became aware of Spiritualist Churches and the work that they do, including Spiritual healing, mediumship, which can reunite people with loved ones who have passed away, and the understanding of Spiritualist philosophy which is based on the...