Response to chapter 13

I learned quite a bit from this chapter on how the world views religion from a society's standpoint. A few years back, we had learned about the untimely and supremely tragic mass suicide at the Jonestown settlement. With the nation polarized, the views on religious groups began to change. The words "cult of death" were splashed across the front page of Time Magazine with pictures of the littered dead in the foreground.
I believe this event contributed to the stigma we have today on religion. Many people base their general opinion on anything remotely controversial on a singular and polarizing event. Both sides of the story are often not heard. While I strongly oppose any sort of propagation, pressing, and bigoted forms of communicative religion, I do strongly believe also that there must be another side to such events that raise questions of creed and integrity.