disclaimer: If I were Salvatore I wouldn't be wasting my time around here.
I was thinking on my way home and this is the result. Nowhere near as good as Salavtore would do it and I'm not even sure I can follow my own line of thoughts, somewhere I got lost I think. Oh, and just in case: please don't take offense, none is meant, I was only thinking and got carried away. One more thing, I'm only halfway part seven of 'the legend of Drizzt', so if this might be inspired by something written in the first 6,5 books, if it looks like something in book 7-13, it's not my fault.

Thoughts

All we do is based on our believes We
choose our religion based on these
believes. Or we should. Often I have
seen that it is not so. We are raced in
accord with our parents' believes and thusly
their view of the world. The ways of behaviour
demanded by the original prophets were
written down in holy books. They are
rules, dictated not by the gods but by
those people who were dedicated to
them, to a flaw. Our ancestors, swayed
by the prophets, taught their way of
celebrating their faith to their children
and grandchildren. As their descendants
develop a way to experience faith,
it will be similar to the way of their
ancestors, hundreds of years ago. They
will not be persuaded by the gruesome
pictures of planes afire, painted by the
books and storytellers. No, they will see
religion as no more than a code of
behaviour, brought to them from their
forefathers and meant to keep them
from doing as they please. It will
become no more than an excuse to turn
situations in their favour and thusly it
will be used, abused to gain wealth and
power.
Others will have been brought up so strictly,
that simple respect for the gods, has been
twisted into an uncontrollable flame, fed
generation after generation, by a desperate
need to please and fear of the Nine Hells.
For those who in essence were never free to
choose, will cling to the believes, true to their
hearts or no, all the more, in a desperate need
to find fulfilment where they do not suspect it
and to earn the favour of a deity, to avoid
suspicion of blasphemy and possible punishment
for their so-called unclean thoughts.

True, a sense of morality is necessary,
as is a basic understanding of
appropriate behaviour and respect towards
peers and elders, but to write these rules
and lessons, that are meant to be learned
throughout life, in books and call them a way
of honouring a god, will inevitably result in
wars, based on deformed images,
misunderstandings and prejudice.

By following the holy books there will
be no change in the behaviour of a
person or a community. Thusly mistakes
will have to be made in order to achieve
great changes necessary for a better
future. Making mistakes is a natural way
to discover the right path, but the costs
that may, no, will come, when these
changes take place, will be much more
severe than they would have been,
had there never been holy books. Unions
will be torn apart and turned against each
other in order to hopefully come to a better
understanding of each other before the
losses will be counted in nations.

How is it then that the rules of religion can
be written down in books, that the ancient
ways are still promoted by old men,
reluctant to embrace a better future?
How is it that our beloved holy books
want us to live the same way we did a
thousand years ago, when life was so
much harder? Can our deities truly desire
us to relinquish every comfort and
knowledge gained by years of evolution?
To give up a sense of individuality we may
have gained?

Our morals are mostly based on what
our parents have taught us, based on
what they were taught by holy books.
Yet races or individuals born a dark heart
will follow their own immoral reasoning,
disregarding the horrific images of
torture and punishment brought to them
by priests and prophets. What use are
holy books when they mean least to
those they were meant to keep to the
right path.

A religious conviction is a personal
choice, not one to be made by our peers or
ancestors, not even to be determined by
traditions, it is the whole of our believes
and morals that cannot be written down
in books.

-Drizzt Do'Urden

-Laurëic Andriel.