Religion is to control the masses.
Spinoza feels that religion is an attempt by certain authority-minded folks to control the populace by teaching them philosophical ideas that train them to shame themselves into obedience to a norm. He actually goes further than this in his argument. He feels that religious people who teach against common sense and reason are actually harming the humanities by "darkening" the study of reason by adding a layer of shame and obedience where one need not be.
Religion is predicated on philosophical beliefs.
Spinoza feels that humans have a sacred duty to scrutinize our religious beliefs, because religion is predicated on ideas, such that if one adopts the religion, they also adopt the entire catalogue of suppositions and assumptions that are also preserved by tradition. Spinoza's understanding of religious tradition is that it is embalming beliefs in a layer of unquestionable authority. Spinoza feels this is one instance where one should absolutely throw the baby out with the bathwater.
The Bible should not be pedestalized.
He feels that the Bible is an expression of human invention and imagination, which for his time made him a heretic in the truest sense of the word. Spinoza's ideas were so forward-thinking that although many theologians agree with him today, even within the church, there are still those who are endlessly offended by these very same ideas. Ultimately, Spinoza says, they're stories, written during a time very different than ours. Although the Bible treats issues about existence, Spinoza feels that is more properly the domain of pure, unadulterated philosophy.
