I agree with many critiques of organized religion...my problems with it are many, also. I may be a religious person, but I loathe organized religion and how religious beliefs can be twisted into justifications for hatred and oppression, and one religion becomes intertwined with politics. That being said, I do appreciate the degree of inner strength and faith in yourself that religion, when used positively, can accomplish.

As for mysticism...sometimes that is a loaded word. Any force in the universe can seem 'mystical' if we do not fully understand it. I simply see various aspects of what we term mysticism as aspects of science we do not yet fully understand, and are controversial for that reason.

Now, regarding the taboos against sexuality we find ourselves facing today...I fully agree with you. Judeo-Christian ideologies demonizing sexuality are so pervasive in our society that people do not need to be religious per se in order to loathe it. There are many, many die hard atheists who feel exactly the same way about sexuality, including pedosexuality (especially that!) as any religious person out there...and those latter atheists would swear on their lives that their opinions in these matters have nothing to do with religion. They will claim their beliefs are just based on "common sense," or lie (to both themselves and the person they are talking to) by saying it's based on their own personal observations. The ideology of the 'Religions of the Book' are embedded into our culture on many levels, so you can be opposed to religion in and of itself, yet still unknowingly harbor many beliefs that stem from religious ideology.

There may be many people in society who are atheists, and our society may even put on the veneer of secularism at times, but that doesn't stop us from clinging to the Judeo-Christian beliefs that govern our general attitudes towards sexuality, along with the conceptions of 'innocence' for anyone under 18.