My experiences with God...

u will not believe this, but religion was created as a means of achieving political stability. for maintaining law and order. all these scriptures and culture is programmed in our subconscious mind so that we will never "sin"... if a person were to realize that he could do something bad (like kill another person..) and get away with it, that wud have been the end of law and order in the early world. so smart ppl invented the concept of god to instil a fear in people...(something similar to mom saying eat fast, or else gabbar singh will come...) religion evolved subsequently to reinforce these beliefs. i do not disagree that all the scriptures (bible, gita, vedas, upanishads, quran) all recommend good actions... but thts like the lowest form of awareness. the goal is not to get u to believe in "god". the goal is to get u to believe in "good".

subsequently, two schools of political philosophy emerged in the cambridge university in the early 19th century. ppl who saw this through. ppl who refused to believe in god and religion. they were divided into "the intuitionists" and "the utilitarians"... the former group believed that even if religion were not there, ppl wud still continue doing good bcos they intuitively know that is the right thing to do. the latter group feels that everyone has a selfish motive. bcos of this, ppl will see the utility in a better world and so will do good. modern concepts like economics is premised on this utilitarian concept.

so if u ask me....
1. the least level of awareness is lack of belief in god. this level of hierarchy is characterised by criminals and the like.
2. next level is being religious - the illusion that one's religion and beliefs are far superior to anyone else's.
3. third level is being spiritual - belief in god, but blurring boundaries between religions.. a feeling that religion is irrelevant, its god and his teachings that are important... this happens when u read all the scriptures from all religions.. ppl like akbar were in this category...
4. the last category is the philosophy of existentialism. the realization that the whole point is in the teachings that these books and their authors are trying to convey and that god is but an illusory medium to communicate it to the illiterate. such ppl do not believe in god, they believe in themselves, and their ability and motivation to do good to society.

finally, this is not designed to provoke a controversy or anythin... everyone is totally entitled to have their own personalized views of god and religion... just sharing mine with u guys....