Title: Is Religion a Hoax? Question: Some people say that religion is a potpourri of created stories and myths that were coined in order to supply easy answers to deep and unanswerable questions (like where did we come from; why are we here; Where are we going; what happens after this life etc.). To what extent is this true? Answer: As a person, who consciously adheres to a religious creed, I really do not think that I am the right person to whom this question should be addressed. How can you expect a Muslim, a Christian, a Jew, a Hindu or a person consciously ascribing to any of the other religions to give an answer to this question in the positive, especially regarding his own religion? In fact, in my opinion, because of the extremely broad generalization entailed in the question, it does not even deserve to be taken too seriously. Rather than raising such generalized objections, it would be better if one would present a genuine academic criticism or objection on religion. Speaking strictly about Islam [1] , it does not propose any answers to the so-called 'unanswerable questions', without presenting clear bases of these answers in the physical universe that surrounds man, the recognized and accepted history of man, man's inherent physical and/or moral nature or simple common sense. In view of this fact, it would be more appropriate for those who would like to criticize religion, in general, or Islam, in particular, to try to academically refute the arguments upon which Islam has based its answers. Such a criticism would indeed deserve our attention and consideration. If, on the contrary, rather than taking the pains of finding communicable faults with the bases of a religion, one resorts to making such wild generalizations, as you have cited, then the fault is not as much with any religion as with the person making such unfounded statements. When in the 1960's man first landed on the moon, all the newspapers showed pictures of Neil Armstrong 'floating' on the moon. Irrespective of these newspaper reports and pictures, there was a large number of uneducated and illiterate people in Pakistan - and a number of them still live - who not only refused to believe that man could really have set foot on the moon, but also considered it highly sacrilegious to believe that he did. When asked what they thought of the newspaper reports and pictures showing man's landing on the moon, they termed these reports to be a 'Hoax'. I really do not see any difference between the intellectual attitude of those, who out rightly disregard 'religion' as a 'hoax' and that of those, who disregard man's scientific developments as a 'hoax', except that the latter may be given some allowance for their lack of education and exposure. May 11, 2001 [1] According to the Qur'an, all the prophets of God, without any exception, were in essence the prophets of 'Islam'.