An Atheist on Religion

After finishing the second half of the assigned reading, I've decided that I do really like Stuck Rubber Baby, regardless of Cruse's unaesthetic drawing style. The detail involved allows me to focus mainly on the narrative and any visual elements that stick out, such as the use of thought bubble panels.
The focus of this blog though, is religion in Stuck Rubber Baby, a topic I believe can be written about without reference to the "graphic" aspect of the novel as per Spencer's instructions. Personally I have never had much use for religion, finding it too difficult to accept any church's tenets on blind faith and seeing far too much hypocrisy in its practitioners.
Part of the reason why I like Cruse's novel is that it portrays the civil rights movement in a very personal way that history books and other anecdotes have failed to do for me so far. The dogmatic, myopic, and pervasive hatred of the Southern whites for anyone who doesn't fit in their little conservative world view is just astonishing. I feel saddened by the strong antipathy of the bigoted that is based on so little understanding. What also saddens me, though it confirms my belief of the religious as hypocritical, is the role of religion in fermenting blind hatred.
There are little details throughout the book that indicate this, including the KKK-esque nature of a religious newspaper. However, the character of Orley, Toland's brother-in-law, probably demonstrates religious prejudice the best. He melodramatically says he will pray for Toland's soul and warns him quite graphically about the tortures of Hell in order to prevent Toland from straying away from societal norms. Never mind any reasoned arguments to believe in God. Just play the fear card, and people will follow like sheep, as the government found out after 9/11.
Other hateful characters aren't shown to blatantly be religious, but considering the background of the era, they probably have used religion to justify their bigotry. In Congress the Civil Rights Act was filibustered by a few white Southern Senators who used the Bible--specifically passages in Leviticus (hmm, also the part of the Bible from which anti-gay sentiments are drawn)--to justify slavery. The extreme violence demonstrated by antagonists in the novel highlights the hypocrisy of the whole supposedly devout Christian South. I guess Jesus's advice to "love each other as I have loved you" only applies to select individuals.
Of course, religion isn't depicted as a tool used to justify one's beliefs in all cases in the book. In fact, African American churches and ministers were rallying points for the civil rights movement. Toland even reflects on the schism between the freedom and justice-themed black churches and the white fear-mongering preachers on the radio who denounce the protests.
In any case, both sides have essentially proclaimed that God is on their side, as quite often happens in times of conflict. Religious fervor is a double-edged sword that can be used to unite and even comfort, or to inflame hatred. How convenient that an omnipotent God doesn't set them straight.