Religion pervades every culture on the Earth. It seems as though were born to do it.
I find Dawkins' ideas on the reasons for religion fairly convincing.
I.e. it is an evolutionary side-effect of a beneficial trait - believing what the elders have told you when you were growing up.
this berry is poisonous, this is the correct way to cook this plant, we don't eat this animal etc etc are easy to see how that is a beneficial trait
this is then twisted and used to control people and wield power by people over the centuries.
That isn't to say that people don't take positives from organised religions today as well.
It can be a way of meeting and making friends, can provide pastoral care to vulnerable people, gives people a mechanism for thoughtfulness and self reflection, helps people form a cohesive cultural identity. Reaching out to the vulnerable with charitable acts etc
I think that this is just people doing good and the religion os providing the framework for that, so the flip side is probably also true - the murdering, discrimination, child abuse, judging and other terrible things that people do in the name of religion aren't because of the religion, but the religion is just the mechanism that is being used by bad people to do them.
as such I don't think religions are inherently good or bad - they are just something we are programmed to do. and perhaps we should approach them with that in mind.
I think we see this trait manifest itself in other ways also - how many non religious people HAVE to eat turkey on christmas day - even if they don't particularly like it and don't eat it any other day of the year.
How many people support the monarchy - not because they think it is the best system for a head of state, but because they feel that that is the way that WE as a nation do things and to change it seems contrary to our traditions (the royal family absolutely play on this btw)
