"Atheism - The worship of one's own smug sense of superiority"
- Stephen Colbert

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"Those who turn swords into plowshares will do the plowing for those who do not" - Anon

"A fear of weapons is a sign of retarded emotional and mental development" - Sigmund Freud

You're the one that sounds ignorant. That's like me saying all atheists are immoral.

To your question has anyone ever seen God:

When I look up at the sky at night and I look at all the stars. I don't see the planet Pluto (It's a planet, folks!) And I think to myself "Does it even exist?" I mean...Really, does it? If you can't see it. There's no proof it exists. No proof to me, that it exists. For all I know Pluto could be a big floating meatball. And I came to the conclusion that it's all a hoax, because I cannot see it, I have never been there. I have never truly experienced Pluto.

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"Duty is the most sublime word in our language. You cannot do more. You should never wish to do less." - Robert E. Lee

Colbert is an ironist.

And a devout Catholic.

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"Those who turn swords into plowshares will do the plowing for those who do not" - Anon

"A fear of weapons is a sign of retarded emotional and mental development" - Sigmund Freud

Fear of death is most peoples' biggest fear. Those who offer answers to allay this fear will always find people willing to listen, even if they find some aspects of the message less than agreeable. One day someone comes along and says:

"Pssst....guess what? You don't have to die at all, not really. You just have to follow these rules in this book here and everything will be fine. Seriously, take a look, it's really good stuff. Oh, and remember not to question it. At all. Not even a tiny bit. It's all been figured out, you see. By educated people. Well, educated men actually but it's the same thing."

Then: "Oh yeah, I never thought about it that way before, sounds good to me"

"One thing though, if you don't follow these rules you go to a terrible place and suffer forever"

"Really? But how do you know it's true? I mean it seems pretty far-fetched to me."

"What do you mean "How do I know?". It's in the book! That's how I know! You peasants sure are stupid. Oh and by the way, the King believes in this and thinks you should too, and he says anyone that doesn't will have fire and sharp pointy metal things in their near future. Understand?"

"I guess so..."

"Good, now you get it! Follow the book, eternal life in paradise. Don't follow the book, short, painful life here and eternity of suffering. Oh yeah, the King also says those people across the river definitely don't agree with what's in this book, so he wants you to go over there and kill them to show them the error of their ways."

"But they never did anything to me! Only last week I bought a chicken at the market over there, lovely it was! Anyway, what about the love and understanding?"

"Excuse me?... I thought I just said they don't believe in the Book! It doesn't matter if they have good chickens or never hurt you before! You better realise which side your bread is buttered on! Love and understanding? Oh yes, That's definitely there, but there's another part of the Book that says it's perfectly alright to kill people if they disagree with any part of the Book."

"Well that seems a bit odd, isn't the book a bit self-contradictory then?"

"What have I told you about questions? Did I also mention that you were born with a stain on your soul on account of your mother being a woman? So that already puts you in the bad books, better start begging for mercy now. Oh and no matter what you do in life you can't avoid offending God, but when you die you will be judged on how you lived. Got it?"

"Err...."

"Look, just do as you're told or you'll be in big trouble! See this big stick here? Hmm?"

"Oh. Well, since you put it that way..."

"Good man, knew you'd come around. Look, you just concentrate on the good bits and forget all this nonsense about contradiction and pain and smiting. I'll look after all that, you just take my word for it ok?' (brandishes big stick)

"Er...ok then, I'll just go tell the wife and kids about this then, shall I?"

"Yeah, and tell everyone else you see as well. Don't forget to let me know if anyone doesn't believe you. Play your cards right and you could get your own book and stick someday, you could go places!"

"Right. Thanks." I think

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In your face, space coyote!

It doesn't quite work like that.
It's more like long ago when we were still hunters and gatherers we didn't have scientific method or much accumulated knowledge. People were dependent on nature cycles and as a result needed luck. Just like baseball players today, who depend quite a bit on luck as well as skill, people devised superstitions... which are basically repeating behaviors that coincidentally or otherwise seem to alter results for the better and avoid those that make things worse. In all this dart-playing, a few stuck because they happened to be based in fact (an example, don't eat pork because you'll get killed by demons [trichinosis]- I don't think this one came from hunter-gatherers, but the thought is the same). Other superstitions seemed to excel on the basis of the very instability of the phenomenon in question. So people prayed to spirits of their ancestors and whatnot. The basic problem is that people can't deal with it when there is no reason for something. That's how we survive after all. But the problem is that when we really have trouble finding it, we make one up.
With changes in economy, we came up with labor specialization and complex division of labor. Naturally one of the first big classes to arrive was religious specialists, those who allegedly know how to please the gods. Gods began to resemble more the issues that faced agriculturalists and pastorialists. They became more heirarchical in nature.
Then people killed each other over resources and began to use religion as a rationalization. The result was a sadness over human violence and evil... which led to the founding of comforting moral religions which used aspects of the old ones but included justice, comfort, and laws against "evil".
Then the leaders figured out how to use these religions to justify killing and looting. Go figure.
Today you'll notice, God takes on the image of modern problems... Just look at the protestant work ethic. And we still use Him as an excuse to do rotten things to one another on occasion, while we soak up as much comfort as we can. Even more frightening, for many religion is cited as the only reason they ever do anything good or refrain from evil.
With the aggravating issues people have today, the religions of tomorrow are probably going to be shallow and without compassion. They'll probably use the same deities as we already have because people don't like seeking new explanations anymore. I suppose we're burned out.
Oh well.

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"Man lives in the sunlit world of that which he believes to be reality. But unseen by most is an underworld, a place that is just as real... but not as brightly lit... A DARK SIDE!"
-opening from Tales From the Darkside

I know it doesn't really work like that, but sometimes it seems like people just don't realise what they're actually being told. I should really learn to use those little icons for sarcasm

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In your face, space coyote!

I refuse to entertain the thought that religion is evil and a form of control. Religion is not only the backbone of culture but it's also the backbone of community and of human behavior itself.

***PERSONAL ATTACK DELETED.***

Wow, are those the great religious values that are are backbone of society?

Seems this religion can be used to pick and choose any morals you want.

love thy neighbour unless he's believes something else, in which case smite the heathen unbeliever.

I'm not sure its religion thats evil. But it sure seems some use it to justify evil things.

Anything can be used to justify evil things.