I was brought up Catholic all my life, but one memory that sticks out in my head is the corpus cristi procession. I made my communion in May and then we walked in the procession in July (I think!). For the whole two hours we walked around singing, praying and freezing in the pouring rain. I thought to myself (being 7 yrs old), would God let children go through this. For what purpose does it serve? After that I spent two weeks in hospital, all for religion... On the other hand my father is a devout Catholic and as he says it has got him through some very bad times. The way I see it is praying doesnt hurt, in whatever form you pray in. As for me I am more along the lines of the Dalai Lama. Live a good life, try to help people, and dont judge.