Thank you for the thoughtful response. As we both admire Nietzsche, let me add another quote:

"Behind your thoughts and feelings, my brother, there stands a mighty ruler, an unknown sage-whose name is self. In your body he dwells; he is your body. There is more reason in your body than in your best wisdom. And who knows why your body needs precisely your best wisdom?"

Your points are well-formed, but they come from your ego instead of your body. Perhaps it is best to think more with the soul. Tell me, what do you revere? Reason? Humanity?

Yet we agree humans are terrorist, and corrupt priests and all kinds of second-rate warrior-myth projections. Yes, we should judge the tree by the fruit. Organized religion has made some rotten apples. So what?

I'm here only talking about the soil. The ground. One more from the great Meister Eckhart, who despite your protestations often sounds more like a Hindu than a Christian

"A human being has so many skins inside, covering the depths of the heart. We know so many things, but we don't know ourselves! Why, thirty or forty skins or hides, as thick and hard as an ox's or bear's, cover the soul. Go into your own ground and learn to know yourself there."

That's the point I'm making. If we dig deep we will find something more than ourselves. Many have called this thing God. Neither man, nor woman, but everything, beyond words (so I used old words like Him). I don't care what priests and rabbis say. Like Nietzsche, (the best critic of religion there is), I know the answers are on the inside.