Religion or God or Self

I have been assured that 'religion' is not the same as 'belief in a god'. I wonder if that means that organized religion, or "the church" (whichever one you mean), has corrupted the message so badly that its former adherents are moving to new interpretations? As for the supernatural, people are doubtful there's any such thing. There are some things we can't yet explain but I believe they are totally natural in that we will learn enough to explain them. The answers to complex questions have never been magic or superstition or pseudoscience. To claim that your daily life is a 'gift', or that your own efforts and hard work have no value diminishes our own accomplishments and reduces us to dependent children or sheep. 

We, as humans with minds, can perceive our talents ('gifts') in the material world as separate from a deity (called 'duality', maybe?). According to the Zoroastrians, Plato(~430BCE) had similar ideas (tho there is some discussion as to who influenced who in the timeline). The "truth" of the ideal existence was "spoke" by Ahura Mazda with the mind balanced and without any conflict, but this perfection, this "asha" was corrupted. Ahura Mazda does not demand blind faith but encourages the individual intellect. Humans are not infantilized but are active participants in restoring "asha" to the world. A philosophical discussion on Zoroastrianism and some of its beliefs are in the below video. This piece continues beneath that. 

We're hoping people will continue to recognize that we are the only ones who can address and solve the issues that face us. Continued deliberate ignorance of the world around us, continued belief that a deity will "take care of" us, is just fantasy. The most dangerous part of this type of irrational certitude is a willingness to accept and follow whatever a perceived authority figure tells you, That's how we end up with Christian Nationalism. 

As Plato's teacher Socrates (~470BCE)  said "To find yourself, think for yourself."