re: "unquestioning obedience and brutal domination"
I'm not sure I totally agree with you either, Art, but something just occured to me and I'll use this opportunity to write it down. I have known many religious, non-religious, and in-betweeners in my life and the one thing that has really struck me is that there appears to be absolutely no correlation between religious belief and moral or ethical
rectitude. And I mean no correlation, either positive or negative.