Sex is bad.
Lying is bad.
Drinking is bad.
Independent thinking is bad.
Innovation is bad.
Technology is bad.
Wearing certain clothing is bad.
Dancing is bad.
Music is bad.
Art is bad.
All kinds of things are bad.
We accept this, on faith, because many of our religious institutions tell us to. Question: If God is good (supposedly) and He loves us (supposedly) and He would not harm us en masse (supposedly), then why would He make all these things available to us? Furthermore, why would He have created us with the ability to enjoy these things?
Religions have a nasty, nasty habit to twisting the words of God and His messengers in completely backwards ways. The things listed above (and more) are not bad. They aren't even a threat to one's faith or belief in God. As a matter of fact, most, if not all, of those things help to affirm one's relationship with God or at least help one get closer to learning about Him/Her/It.
God is not a man. God is not a woman. God is virtually unknowable to us humans, but many religions would have you think that they have Him pegged and down to a fine science. Where do they get off telling you that you shouldn't be creative? Did He not make us in His image (supposedly)? If so, then we were made to be creators, artists and thinkers. He made our bodies so that they would be responsive to positive stimuli, while admonishing us to enjoy all things with moderation- but He never said those things were bad.
This is, I believe, why so many people become disenfranchised with God and religion in general. Not because it's hard to swallow the whole God-is-all-powerful thing, but because religions apply such incredible restrictions on the things we do best. It is not God who forbids those things, but the religions which (supposedly) represent Him and His messages.
Why?
Because once we experience the satisfying gifts God has (supposedly) given us, we might appreciate Him more than we would our own religious institutions. People might begin to realize that paying constant homage to a church isn't what God wants from us. Rather, He might just want us to enjoy the things He has (supposedly) placed before us as long as we don't go overboard with it. We might realize that the churches have been telling us falsehoods and thereby leave the churches in the dust. We might learn to read the religious texts and think for ourselves and develop a personal relationship with our Creator instead of letting someone who's never even met God dictate to us what is approved of and what isn't.
God created the grass, but He also created grass. He encouraged us to procreate, and as an extra added bonus made it feel good. We are often referred to His flock, which might infer that we are mindless sheep, but we are also endowed with minds which are capable of creating (and understanding) some pretty nifty shit.
If you really look and open your eyes, you will find that God puts far fewer restrictions on us than any number of given religions do. They do this to keep us complacent and dull, to keep us in a mindless daze of stagnation so that they can continue to feed us a line of BS. Read the Bible- Jesus actually told His followers to stay out of the churches. I wonder why?
If you don't believe in God, do you really know why not? Is it because of religion? If so, which religion and what is it about them that turned you off? Was it something they said? Did they try to fence you in? If they did, they were wrong. They lied and they committed the worst sin possible short of murder: they pushed you away from a Being who only wants you to be closer to Him/Her/It.
Is God real? Perhaps, perhaps not. But if you say "not" simply because of what some idiot, who is jealous of God's power, told you, then (sorry to put it this way) you're an even bigger fool.
Is God good? Mostly, yeah, but sometimes He's been known to get pissed. Can you blame Him? And just because He might lose his patience with us sometimes, does that mean He all of the sudden isn't good? Consider a parent whose child misbehaves. Ever hear "I love you, but I hate your behavior"? Don't you think the Father feels the same way sometimes?
The Devil is about as powerful as an idea, but even God created the Devil. What do religions have to say about that? It wasn't a mistake. Religions avoid logic like the plague, but God doesn't. Don't let a religion tell you what's good or bad. Read. Learn. Think. Let Him tell you in His own words. After all, what has He got to be jealous of? | 
