Many millions of people have been murdered in the name of religion over the centuries and it still goes on even in these enlightened times. Well one excuse is as good as another I suppose for the psychopaths. The whys and wherefores are soon forgotten. The greatest virtue of religion is the unifying and positive force it generates. A country torn by almost perpetual war never succeeds.
What is positive about abusing children, taking new born from their mothers arms and selling them to another country, making children work as slaves for most of their childhood, and a few other things not as bad, but still not the right thing to do! Mainstream religion is on the decline, due to the information highway and now social media. Extreme religions are now flourishing, due to the same vehicles. The world will always change and adapt. The old ways are all but gone. In bout 50 years time, it will be vastly different than today. If you are young enough, you will see this play out. For some, it does not really matter, as they already know why some people think and operate the way they do. For others, they will continue on as is, still wishing and hoping until the day they die!
That can be further discussed here. https://elitetrader.com/et/threads/on-usefulness-of-religion.307880/
Desperate people will always turn to anything that offers some form of hope. I do not dispute the fact that a lot of people have had positive experiences with religion, but this does not change the underlying reasons, to which most are blind, namely due to ignorance, in various forms. One such form is following what your parents handed down to you, and not even bothering to question or validate.
Q An atheist was walking through the woods. "What majestic trees! What powerful rivers! What beautiful animals!" he said to himself. As he was walking alongside the river, he heard a rustling in the bushes behind him. He turned to look. He saw a 7-foot grizzly bear charge towards him. He ran as fast as he could up the path. He looked over his shoulder and saw that the bear was closing in on him. He looked over his shoulder again, and the bear was even closer. He tripped and fell on the ground. He rolled over to pick himself up but saw that the bear was right on top of him,reaching for him with his left paw and raising his right paw to strike him. At that instant the Atheist cried out, "Oh my God!" Time stopped. The bear froze. The forest was silent. As a bright light shone upon the man, a voice came out of the sky. "You deny my existence for all these years, teach others I don't exist and even credit creation to cosmic accident. "Do you expect me to help you out of this predicament? Am I to count you as a believer?" The atheist looked directly into the light, "It would be hypocritical of me to suddenly ask you to treat me as a Christian now, but perhaps you could make the BEAR a Christian?" "Very well," said the voice. The light went out. The sounds of the forest resumed. And the bear dropped his right paw, brought both paws together, bowed his head and spoke: "Lord bless this food, which I am about to receive from thy bounty through Christ our Lord, Amen." UQ