Religion is one of those phenomena that has preached peace, but continues in violence, that has emphasized righteousness, but has led to deceit and greed, that has taught serenity and happiness, but has ended in anger and disappointment. Religions all over the world are seeing this once extraordinary and important phenomena wither away due to the constant fighting and malpractice among and within the religions. Faith is a manifestation of religion, protruding out as if a tumor, but a benign one, that is. Anyhow, that is what the general population feels.
In reality, faith is not the tumor, but it is the religion that is the tumor that has grown on faith. People nowadays see religion as separate entities, separate factions in which there is an endless competition and struggle to find out whose religion is greatest. People see religion as a thing, not as an idea. There is no one person to blame for this misunderstanding, but it is currently the duty of the world population to understand that Islam, Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, Judaism etc. are all ideas, brainstorming ideas, if you will, for a greater final paper.
It is true that certain religions preach completely different laws, modes of conduct, and philosophy, but that does not mean there should be any fighting over this. When people brainstorm ideas for a project, ideas are never thrown out or undervalued because all ideas are of equal value. In one person’s perspective a certain idea may seem more plausible than another idea, but quantitatively, all the ideas are the same.
Throughout the world, there are countless riots among different religions because there seems to be a slight distinction among the religions. In order to stop these riots, and possibly maintain a certain level of peace with the yielding of religious violence, faith should be the determining factor, not religion. When a person has cancer, the doctor does not treat the tumorous cells, he/she treats the person that has manifested a tumor, and removes the tumor using the most convenient method. Similarly, religion must be removed in order to cure faith. Faith is the sense of being that comes with being in touch with a higher spiritual being. If one just wonders or concentrates on this faith, it is enough to help one live a pious lifestyle. The different philosophies of religions can be still learned and discussed, but the whole divided concept of religion should not exist.

Instead of viewing religion as a type of faith, people have started to view it as a caste, a bound status that determines the type of person you are. It is this, callow type of thinking that has plagued the world. I, myself, attest to the fact that I am not very spiritually faithful or in accordance with god. But I do realize that most the world is not either. People automatically believe their ‘religion’ is better than others, without even learning the other philosophies or realizing that faith in one’s religion does not come from mindless worship, but from actually connecting with god, having the intense faith. And those with this intense faith would never commit violence to the level it has progressed to right now.

You need faith, not religion, to believe in your philosophies and your god(s).