"To unjustly cause suffering is the only possible crime" said Robert Ingersoll. I would like to see this statement printed bold in the minds and attitudes of all people. Crime is an offence against humanity, an individual, a group or the environment. Often our liberty and personal freedom is restricted by social conventions and confusion on what indeed constitutes a crime. There is no such thing as a victimless crime. Conversely, if there is no victim, there is no crime. To take drugs or neglect a child is a crime against society. Some person, the society or the environment always suffers from a crime. Our motto should be, 'firstly do no harm.' Sin is a religious word and a concept related to the non-observance of religious precepts or rituals. Many such 'sins' are victimless. They are not crimes, except in the imagination of those who are afraid of divine retribution. Religion creates guilts which are unrelated to social ethics. There is a conflict between our natural ethical senses and the imposed doctrines of religion.

The Christian religion has sown seeds of disunity, arrogance, injustice and even war, far beyond any other religious group. It was not the many inconsistencies and contradictions in the Bible that made me abandon my church after forty years. It was the matter of ethics which finally made me discard my religion. The quality of the justice and compassion of the God of the Bible offended my moral senses- If a brother or a mother of a convicted murderer offered to pay the penalty for the crime, would the law allow it or would anyone else regard it as justice? Of course not. Yet this is the basis of belief that Jesus paid the penalty for the sins of those who believe. Do you think it is just and acceptable for God to attribute the sins of the fathers to the children to the third and fourth generation or to withhold rain so that thousands die of thirst and hunger such as happened in Somalia and other places? If you believe in an almighty and good God you will have difficulty with the justice and compassion of your God.