Uttar Tandon glanced up from his corn field outside Sr nagar to gaze at the midday sun. It was a hot day, and Tandon could hear the sound of gunfire in the hills to the north. For the last week or so the Pakistani geurillas had been harassing Indian positions near the city. Although the media was making the recent conflict out to be of major international importance, Tandon saw the fighting as practically a routine event. The corn farmer had been living outside Sr nagar for all his life, and for the last fifty years he had witnessed various conflicts between India and Pakistan occurring on a fairly regular basis. He had lost friends to these wars and had even just lost his son during the most recent round of fighting. Tandon's loss was great, but he knew that the sacrifice was necessary for India to reclaim that was rightfully theirs: Kashmir. For all his life Uttar Tandon had disliked the Muslims of Pakistan, and he felt confident that when India had built their first nuclear weapon that Pakistan would give back what they had stolen. He now knew that the religious fanatics of Pakistan would concede nothing and that the only solution would be war. Tandon, however, had learned to accept war as a necessary evil - as had so many people in similar situations. As the farmer continued to gaze at the sky, he thought he saw a bright streak of fire. Unfortunately, Tandon didn't have much time to think about it. In that instant Uttar Tandon's retinas were burned to blindness by the unnaturally bright light being emitted by a nuclear explosion. Moments later the fire caught up with the light and all that was left of Uttar Tandon was a shadow burned into the ground behind him.
             In the modern world, religion causes many problems. Whether it serves to justify segregation, as an excuse to kill, or as a tool for manipulating the masses, modern religion has far too many adverse effects to make it worth while. Although religion has h...