As a person who grew up with a religious background (father a vicar) I have drawn some conclusions which may give a slighly different angle on this disscussion.
The Bible the word of God,no,utter rubbish.
I believe that the Bible is a very valuable historicle record,written centuries after the events happened,there is geological evidence for example,of a worldwide flood,all religions seem to tell of this,could this have been the melting of the ice age when sea levels rose and be actually a racial memory I.E sitting round a camp fire telling the story from father to son down the generations untill it was written down.
Religion itself,I think a form of mind control to keep a population in order sums it up,rule by fear.
God,well I think does exist,not as an old man with a beard sat in the clouds,but as the good and best in all of us,call it concience,morals, whatever,but most of us do the best we can for others and ourselves.
Also if there is nothing after,what is the point of doing what we do.
I know this isnt put very well,its late for me,but there is a lot to think about,I belive the Greeks invented the art of philosophy and we have been beating ourselves up over it ever since.