Hollywood has spoken. The Jews killed Jesus. And there’s been holy war ever since. God knows why – the guy was only dead for forty eight hours. After two days in a cave he was back walking the streets of Galilee. We’ve had two thousand years of anti-Semitism, because of a punishment that most people would consider lenient for shoplifting. But the question Christians have really been overlooking is: where the hell would Christianity be, if Jesus hadn’t been crucified?

Christian faith is founded on the belief that Christ died for the sins of mankind. Let’s accept, for a moment, that to nail oneself to a cross would be an act of gross stupidity unlikely to attract many followers (to say nothing of the comparative difficulty of hammering a nail into your right hand after your other three limbs had been secured). In order to be properly crucified, Jesus needed a third party to do the honours. Enter the Jews. If they hadn’t killed Jesus, Christianity would never have existed.

What makes the controversy even more ridiculous is that Jesus explicitly told his followers that, when attacked, they should turn the other cheek. So Christians are not only honour bound to forgive the Jews, but they really should offer themselves up for crucifixion as well.

Why do organised religions get their knickers in such a twist? One answer comes from a Buddhist story I heard in a Christian church. An old Buddhist master kept a cat, but found that the animal distracted his students during meditation. So the master decided to tie his cat up during the meditation hour. Years passed and the old master died. His students kept his cat and continued to tie it up before meditating. Then the cat died, and the students bought another cat and continued the practice. A thousand years later, scholars were writing long treatises on the spiritual significance of tying up a cat prior to meditation.

The dogmas, practices and traditions that are an intrinsic part of any organisation are a distraction from spirituality. Going to church doesn’t make you a nice person. Neither does praying five times a day – look at Mohammed Atta. True spirituality is about being loving, compassionate and generous, regardless of your religious viewpoint.

No one disputes that organised religions have good intentions. But some of those good intentions are leading the Catholic Church to oppose condom distribution in impoverished communities threatened by AIDS. The road to genocide is paved with good intentions.

I don’t dispute for a moment that many religious people do incredible work in some of the most desolate parts of the world. The only reason the Catholic Church has such sway in impoverished communities is because it has been helping them to fight hunger and disease for so long. But that doesn’t change the corruption, hypocrisy and misguidance among the hierarchy. The moral and sexual diktats of an archaic, supposedly celibate, male-dominated institution seem increasingly ridiculous to a growing number. We see through the empty rituals, the one-size-fits-all sermons, the bureaucratic and political wrangling that consume all organisations. What the disaffected among us need is disorganised religion.

What does that term mean? Sincere soul-searching, regardless of belief system. All spiritual traditions ultimately lead to the same awakenings regarding truth, compassion and acceptance. If that’s not your cup of tea, don’t worry. Like most attributes, human spirituality exists in all of us in wildly differing quantities. If you’re not spiritually inclined, don’t let it bother you. Just stay away from churches, mosques and synagogues: non-spiritual people in religious institutions are a recipe for hypocrisy and fanaticism.

This is one of the reasons I recommend atheism. It doesn’t have any institutions for the non-spiritual to abuse – here’s one I disorganised earlier. Apart from that, atheism is a belief system like any other. Christians place their faith in men who were frocks. Atheists place their faith in nerds who wear lab coats. Some claim that the latter have more objective evidence on their side. But can humans ever really be objective, particularly about religion? Whatever way you look at it, atheism is a leap of faith. Personally, I think it’s a much smaller and less perilous leap than that involved in Islam or Hinduism, but it is a leap none-the-less.

Certain religious fascists have argued that atheists have no culture or imagination. It is true that, in this part of the world, atheists shun a church which inspired, funded and preserved many great cultural treasures. But William Shakespeare was inspired, funded and preserved by an oligarchic and ruthlessly violent British monarchy. Surely one may shun the violence, social deprivation and inequality which that monarchy promoted, while retaining an appreciation of Shakespearean drama? If one must believe in Christ to appreciate Michelangelo or St. Peter’s Basilica then surely one must believe in Zeus to appreciate Greek philosophy and sculpture. Presumably only those who acknowledge cats as divine beings, can be impressed by the pyramids.

Many claim that the true meaning of life is contained in the Bible, the Koran or the teachings of Buddha. I don’t believe humanity is that simple (would that it were so). If there is any meaning to our lives, it is not to be found in any single culture, but rather in comparing many societies and traditions, separating what is universal from what is local. Every religion has its creation myth, but only the full pantheon of human history can tell us where we really came from. Ours is a long history, fraught with ambiguities, complexities and chaos. But if you ask me, it provides a far more plausible explanation of our modern world than the story of a guy nailed to a cross for a couple of days, by a cabal who wouldn’t eat salami.