Quote Originally Posted by cheeseburger
Not to repeat what's alreay been said here, but organized religion is not necessarily a bad thing.

As with any system without checks and balances, the ones on top tend to get corrupt. The same is true with religion; over the years the 'leader' or influential figure in the religion abused the power he had over others. (This happened in pretty much every religion, so I won't go into details).

Beyond that, I see no problem in people actively participating in an organized religion. Personally, I don't, but that's just my opinion.

Again, you need to draw the distinction between believing in god and participating in organized religion. They are very different.
Well, that's the point. The moment religion becomes "organized" it begins imposing on it's followers and making rules beyond the original precepts of the beliefs.