According to the C. S. Lewis, “20th century's most popular proponent of faith based on reason”, you must make your choice: “Either this man was, and is, the Son of God - or else a madman or something worse.” Please make your choice.

Our reasoning is limited by our tiny brains. Reason tells me that one or the other belief system has done more harm or more good or good through history. Reason allows me to read The Gita, the Qur'an, The Bible, The Watch Tower, The Book of Mormon, and several different Buddhist publications and to decide which faith's fundamental beliefs, if practiced, will produce peaceful, caring, helpful, generous and loving followers. But that is only as far as reason can take me.
Then instinct or gut feeling comes in. I was born with an innate sense that there has to be a reason or logic to the universe, thus an intelligent force behind that reason. Only we humans of all creatures seem to have that sense of the eternal and the divine. We are not driven just by instinct to hunt, gather eat, sleep, procreate, fight and die like other communal animals (wolves, chimps, etc.). We imagine, we visualize abstractions, like symbols and words, we are the artists of Earth. We each have a conscience that sets parameters for us far beyond mere survival of the pack. We all come prepackaged with the ability to understand good and evil. We must be taught that concept but it comes easily, and without a sense of right from wrong, civilization breaks down. Societies all need a set of rules (laws) in order to survive.
I was raised in a nominally protestant home with a Native American dad who was just barely a Christian. I tried Buddhism for a while and felt unfulfilled. Spent a short time in a Hindu Ashram and only felt like a fish out of water, I endured a successful vision quest at age 21, and was a celebrant in the long house for several years without ever renouncing my, then tiny amount of, belief in Christianity. Something in me kept telling me to seek God and give Him (I use Him and Father as a generic, as I doubt that gender exists in that realm) due attention.
I went from Quaker meeting room to several different churches, and I studied the Bible with a critical eye, while also studying Mormonism, Islam, The Watchtower Society, Bah'ai, and even other sects of Hinduism.
It took surrendering to God (some call it the baptism of The Spirit, I
t is being fully open to God and accepting the indwelling of the Holy Spirit of God into your very soul) to finally be able to grow spiritually and gain enough understanding of The Word of God, by study and fervent prayer and spiritual revelation, learning why we exist at all and of His will for us. Now I do not fear to speak boldly and to love just as boldly.
As for your struggle against those who misquote scripture and twist religion to do evil, I applaud you. Evil should be called out wherever it lurks. Your conscience is usually going to be spot on, that's why you were given it. We have a saying, hate the sin, love the sinner. We believe in redemption, that people can change if led in love. If you've been attacking for example Roman Catholic priests and their leadership for child abuse and the cover-up activities around it I'm with you. But if you broadened that attack to the entire denomination or even worse to blame their God, you've gone over the line and need to confess to God and repent and then atone (perhaps by writing of your error on sodahead or in whatever medium the attacks were made.
Please remember that I'm only giving my advice. I'm not your judge, only your helper and, I hope, your friend. If there is anything else I can help you with please message or email me.
Cat out.

I don't doubt your sincerety, or suspect you of judging me. I love conversations like this. They are the ones where good people of different ideas, can gain understanding of one another, and maybe even be persuaded, at least on some topics.
You're right, I blame the institution of the Roman Catholic Church for the cover-up of child-molestation; but I do not blame each member of the RCC, or even all of the leaders within it. I blame radical Islam for the 9-11 attacks, but not each invididual Muslim. I am well aware that within every belief system, there are good people and wicked ones, as well as people who are not necessarily evil, but are just douche-bags. And of course, I would include atheists in that as well.
I don't blame God for any of the things they do. Again, It would be silly to blame what I believe to be an imaginary character, for the actions of those who believe in him. By the same token, I don't credit God with the good, done by his believers. I think a good person would be a good person, regardless of their religion.
As for the inate understanding of right and wrong, I don't believe that is so either. At least not in terms of it having been planted in our brains. Every child is naturally selfish, and many if not most are even violent. It takes teaching, to get them out of that. I think that our understanding of right and wrong, is not the result of divine laws, but rather of societal evolution. I don't want to be killed, so I don't kill. I don't want you to steal from me, so I don't steal. As the generations have come and gone, we've refined our sence of morality, to include laws against rape, slavery, and assault. But the fact that these laws are relatively recent in human history, is just proof that they were NOT originally planted in our brains.

Still, none of this is why I don't believe in God. I don't believe, for the same reason I don't believe in the Loch Ness Monster, or mermaids, or Bigfoot. It isn't that I KNOW that there is no god. But there is no solid evidence that he is real. And in the absence of evidence to the affirmative, the most logical conclusion is the negative.
I too have studied many different faiths. I've studied them extensively. I grew up a Christian; but in the end, it just didn't add up. If there is a god and he wants me to believe, he can prove himself. But I won't be coerced with threats of Hhell, or bribed with promises of Heaven. The only reason to believe, for me; is that it is most logical conclusion.