Joe,

I'm with UL on this.  It's a dangerous thing to be asking, as the answers can often affront someone's beliefs.  Insulting someone's belief's have often been the cause of wars and feuds - e.g. Protestants and Catholics.

But as you asked, and I enjoy WAR and insulting peoples' beliefs, here's both barrels.

1. Everyone has a right to believe in a supreme being - whatever form that may take.  I have faith that there is a surpeme being.  I don't know what the supreme being looks like or expects of me, but still live my life as I see fit.  Like Loki, I have NO faith in organized religions.  Why.  Because they are of man, created by man, for control over man.  Granted, millenia ago, these organizations were needed and useful for framing the philosophical arguement of GOOD verses EVIL.  Is man inherently good or evil?  Our country is found on Judeo-Christian principles. Religion gave form to the boogey man, to the devils and demons, to the angels and cherubs, to heaven and hell.  And without those there wouldn't be monsters for D&D.  Unfortunately, and this applies to D&D as well, SOME people get TOO book bound, TOO wrapped up in the WORDS and miss the message.  The point of religion is faith.  The point of D&D is fun.
   
   
2. Now, being of the same age as UL, we're looking at this from the perspective of multiple decades of maturity.  We've had time to form our view of the world.  This is not necessarily so for teenagers.  They are still in the process of maturing.  The neurological pathways don't fully mature until around age 25.  Here is where parents MUST be parents, and not friends.  They must show PARENTAL GUIDANCE and mentor their children.   Where am I going with this?   In today's age of XBOX and what have you, those are even more addictive, but of less educational or socializational value.  I submit that playing D&D can be an educational and socializational tool for children WHEN in group settings.  But it requires some parental guidance and oversight.  You must know your children and look out for their wellbeing.  I prefer a mature setting when I RP, and that can lead to settings which may be uncomfortable or inappropriate for certain players or age groups.  That's easy to determine for table top games.  Chat and post roleplaying is a crap shoot.  There's no telling who's on the other side typing away.  I'll treat everyone as an adult until prove otherwise.

So, that's my take on this.  Hope it answered your question.
HT