The art of shadowrunning, from the perspective of a D&D vet Options

[fatal2ty]

Well, I'd like to open by saying this is my first post on these forums, I've spent the past week or so reading through posts and conversations in these forums and have learned a lot from it, so the point of this post is really to clarify some points that I haven't quite understood, and to get some advice from veteran Shadowrunners. I played the sega, and the super nintendo games, as well have run a few short sessions with second edition in the past, but primarily I have been an D&D nerd, as well this would be my first foray into GMing a campaign.

so, without any further yammering:

1 - how do Dragons in SR compare to Dragons in D&D, it seems to me that they're more prominent in everyday life, and they have more of a hand in political and corporate affairs, but would you consider them to be as dangerous as their D&D counterparts, and what would be involved in negotiating with one.

2 - The Players guide and GM Screen are obviously a vital part of a GM's arsenal, but I'm having difficulty in deciding which other guides would be good to read and have around as a major resource, Mr. Johnson's little black book has been recommended a few times I've noticed, but the pickings for 4th edition seem to be pretty slim right now and I'm not sure what else I need now, and what can wait.

3 - In comparing Earth, the Matrix, and the Astral World, could they best be seen as 3 dimensional layers? In that, each layer represents a different view of a simultanious reality. for example, within the astral world, would the world you see bear any resemblance to the world your physical form resides in? As for the Matrix if you subscribed to a node and went full VR, then from that node connected to a node inside a building nearby, would your Icon be considered as traveling to that node to read its information and having to travel back to your originating node in order to read the originating node's information, or would it be more akin to making a copy and you could access the information on both nodes simultaiously?

4 - In a typical legal battle, which would take presidence, corporate laws or national laws? does it depend on the location, who your SIN was registered with, or is it a simple tiered ladder?

5 - In what way does religion exist in SR, I have seen few, if any references to Christianity, Judaism, or Muslim beliefs, do these religions still exist, and how powerful would their presence be?

6 - In 4th edition, would cyberdecks and equivelant 3rd edition gear be usable with the current matrix? I would assume it would require a hardware connection, but would it be effective in combatting current IC and traversing the wireless web with hardware access to a wireless node?

Thats all I can think of right now, any other suggestions you may have would be welcome and appreciated