RELIGIOUS PURSUIT

Everyone has beliefs. Every single being with a functional and--in a likely case--human mind has a belief of some sort. From childhood, it was whatever our parents told us to believe. Or, for some of us, it was outrageous fantasies constructed when our parents told us we could believe whatever we wanted.
And then, as "With Age Comes Wisdom" implies, we learn to fully differentiate reality from fantasy, and incorporate that understanding into what we truly have faith in. Even if it's faith in nothing more than not-knowing-for-a-reason. Faith goes all the way down the ladder to the lower levels of refusal to understand, right down to the most basic beliefs, such as Taoism.
I normally hate to imply any type of bias against any religion, but in such a case as to analyze the complexities of concept and reality, I must first form a comparison. And the best comparison between any two things always occurs when those two things are exact opposites. In this case, the complexity, rationality, and logic involved in trying to understand exactly Why I Am proceeds to the farthest reaches of human understanding, while the simplicity of believing only in acceptance of reality (the Taoist way) goes down to the simplest processes of understanding ("Everything Just Is"). Comparison made. I apologize to the Taoist frame of mind wholeheartedly, and intend no insult. I simply wish to pose a fair contrast between "simple" thought and "complex" thought, using religion as the scale (and speaking as an ex-Taoist myself, that seems fair). Now then...
While we all have beliefs and so-called faith, they are ALL tainted. This is a concept that may not be openly agreed with by some religions, but it is pointed out in their beliefs in one way or another (after all, interpretation is what it's all about, right?). Christianity, as an example, understands that religion in itself is tainted. They forsee sins to be overcome, ignored, or otherwise cast aside. They see sins as things that must be gotten rid of, through repent, confession, or some other sort of atonement. They also see, however, that the Mind is a Human Mind. They see and understand that our thoughts must be taken care of, but they cannot ever be fully controlled. We think things that we don't want to think about--constantly. Sinful thoughts are in our nature, they must simply never be acted on, and we must put forth our best effort to cast them aside. THEREFORE: religious belief, due to the complexities of the human conscience, is tainted.
So what can we do about this? Well, as it has been proven time and again in philisophical, scientific, and religious debates historically and world-wide: we must analyze and find the source of the wound before it can be properly treated. In this case, the wound--the tainted place--can be found in religious belief (Faith)...for faith is tainted.
We question ourselves, time and again, if our path is the right one to take. We sometimes pray for the answers, we sometimes seek them out. And history has proven, on uncountable occasions, that no matter how much faith has kept our thoughts in line, experimentation and analysis have yeilded more tangible results than our prayers to whatever god we see fit to trust our faith to.