Religions are, by definition, metaphors, after all: God is a dream, a hope, a woman, an ironist, a father, a city, a house of many rooms, a watchmaker who left his prize chronometer in the desert, someone who loves you - even if, perhaps, against all evidence a celestial being whose only interest is to make sure your football team, army, business or marriage thrives, prospers and triumphs over all opposition.  Religions are places to stand and look and act, vantage points from which to view the world.

-Neil Gaiman