However, are NOT one of the main cries uttered in most armed conflicts, the 'Holy' Crusades for example, " God is with us," even the Nazi Uniform Belt Buckles were emblazoned with " Gott mitt Uns" - English translation = God is with Us.

@propagandazoo1 YES but by the removal of religion/s it would also be the removal of one of, if not as a present times with religion based suicide bombings, etc, the root causes thus opening up the road eventually bringing a lasting peace to humanity and the whole planet.
Every journey, no matter how long or short, HAS TO begin with first step, does it not?

@Triphid I agree. If we do not try to heal the divides between us that we can, war will never stop. Not even when there is no rational reason to fight.

@RobertMcKinney Sounds good to me.

Could it NOT be said simply that " Religion is little more than an EXPANDED version of Tribalism and taken to a newer and far less palatable level?"

Yes, sadly that seems to be the collective ideology of the masses, thankfully though there are those of us out there who see us as just members of the species Homo Sapiens, a subgroup of the Anthropoid Primates, virtually hairless, walking erect, having the ability to invent language, to converse with one another using language and, though it seems some do NOT, think laterally, logically and creatively, etc, etc.
None-the-less we ALL live on one very small planet with very finite resources, we are all subject to death/dying ( which is the one, the only TRUE certainty in life) and should you cut us we ALL bleed the same colour blood, we all breathe the same atmosphere, WE are no different in actual FACT.

Teaching " Critical Thinking skills" to the majority of Religious Believers would be, in my opinion, somewhat like the old adage of " You can lead a horse to water, BUT you cannot make it drink," sadly.
Some time ago I sort of coined a new version of the adage directed at the same subject and the " Theists" of this world, " You lead a Theist/Believer to reason, BUT you cannot get them to think."

@Triphid I agree most theists are beyond help, but teaching critical thinking (and about logical fallacies and how the scientific method works, etc) to children starting at the grade school level would help inoculate them from religious and other bad ideologies.

Of course that's never going to happen in public schools in most parts of the US because religious parents are NOT going to be happy about their children asking uncomfortable questions and "disrespecting" them.

So the best we can do is teach it at college level and keep peeling the young people away as deconverts. Happens all the time. To the point where some sects (e.g., Jehovah's Witnesses) actively discourage their youth from going to college.

@mordant Luckily here in Australia we have both Public and Private, some run by religions of course, Schools, the Public are Government run, though lately it is more like ' run down by the Governments,' and for decades the Public Schools have not had a great deal of religious teaching to the children. Sadly, of late, with the Liberal National Party and its religious majority of membership and backing, there has been a push to re-introduce ' Scripture Classes' into Primary Schools in particular as well s School Chaplains, this has met with quite a lot of out-cry from the vast majority of parents as well as teachers, etc, and religious instruction in those Public Schools found itself up against a somewhat powerful and immovable ' log-jam.'
Australia, on the whole, it seems is most determined to retain and maintain its proud Secularism ideologies no matter what.
Such a pitiful shame that America on the whole seems so determined to remain under the thumb/s of religion though.

@Triphid I actually don't have any problem with the comparative religion-style classes taught as part of sociology as I understand happens in the UK. Children should be literate enough to understand the influence of religion on the development of society and culture. I have no issue with that. But having chaplains and teaching religion AS religion, no that would be inherently pushing a particular belief system.

@mordant Religion/religious belief is neither a Science nor a subject of Sociology, it is merely a Philosophy and instead of proclaim the knowledge of it as being Theology, in my opinion, it should classified as being THEOSOPHY.
Schools are form students to learn about the World, Universe, Life and everything that they will/may encounter/need in the adult lives, Religious Philosophy is most DEFINITELY NOT a necessity for adult life.

@Triphid I don't think it's a necessity for adult life in the sense that you have to understand the creeds or something, however, a child who has no idea how religion influences the arts or inflames tribalism or has no context for why people reflexively say "bless you" when someone sneezes or who thinks "god helps those who helps themselves" is a Bible verse, are in my view at a cultural and social disadvantage.

Also I've seen a lot of ignorant arguments posited by atheists who are trying to be anti-religion without understanding religion. For example, claiming that the Bible is untrustworthy because it's "translations of translations of translations" which is a corruption of it being "copies of copies of copies" which itself reflects ignorance of textual criticism as well as being a pointless hill to die on when you can critique the Bible for factual errors and internal inconsistencies.

@mordant I do NOT see all that many ' ignorant Atheists' posting in this group and since Atheists are more likely than not to have read the Bible thoroughly and in its entirety than most believers would have the Atheists would have a far greater knowledge of the Bible, etc, than the majority of Xtians anyway.
After all, as a Tutor of mine during Theology Classes once said, " The road to Reason is littered by uncountable, well read and well worn bibles, etc, discarded by those who once owned and trusted in them."
Sir, read through and dissected the Bible alone is filled to overflowing with inconsistencies, errors both factual and internal, etc, etc, but what else can one expect from a tome written by over 40+ ancient Scribes living separately in 40 + DIFFERENT Countries, separated by hundreds, if not, thousands of miles in an age where there was NO direct person to communication other than messengers on horse-back or on foot?

@Triphid I don't see all that many ignorant atheists posting here, but I have seen too many of them on the wider Internet over the years. To be clear, the ignorance of theists about atheism is on balance FAR worse than the ignorance of atheists concerning theism, and it's fair to say MOST atheists are more knowledgable about religion than many theists, most are more knowledgable about the Bible than most Christians, etc. However ... the fact remains I've seen some really uninformed and even chuckleheaded arguments against theism by atheists and I would like to see that as close to zero as possible.

My original point being that knowledge of religion and religious history and the influence of religion ON history is a Good Thing. Religion has had a MASSIVE influence on culture and society for thousands of years. I'm not suggesting anything other than being basically literate concerning that, and, if one wants to critique religion at any level of detail, be sure you know religion to that level. Nothing more, nothing less.

@mordant Can you name for me and the wider audience here 10 actual benefits to human kind as a WHOLE that can be shown and attributed empirically and solely to Religion, especially Christianity?

@Triphid No. I think religion is a vehicle for good and ill, mostly the latter. The good would be mostly community / belonging / refuge / social cohesiveness, which needs common cause and belief to coalesce around. Religion has always been particularly proficient at that on an overall historical basis (if we ignore its effect on people outside any particular religious group that enjoys the "member benefits" ), but it's not the sole vehicle for it, and I'd argue that in the modern world, it's less and less the best or most effective one.

I trust you understand I'm not one of those who argues that religion is a net plus for humanity. That's not at all my point. However it is a huge influence and should be understood properly. Also, I don't think humanity as a whole is ready to do without it cold turkey, much as I wish we were further along than that as a species. The good news however is that its influence is on the wane, if not as quickly as one would wish.

IF religion is simply just a ' tool' then can you, perhaps, explain why it is so clearly expounded in the Bible, particularly in the O.T. and even in the N.T.
For example, God telling the Hebrews to INVADE and DESTROY all the other Nations such as the peoples of Moab, the Canaanites, etc, etc.?
Plus telling the Disciples that the Gentiles are different to the Hebrews thus unworthy of being allowed to worship him amongst the Hebrews and must worship completely separate from them?

@Triphid Sure, because that is how this "tool to segregate people" is used. Through writings and edicts from "god", that are actually written by just people in power.

@mattersauce Precisely.

" Marxism," Karl Marx was so AGAINST religion that he stated clearly in his writings that " Religion is the Opiate of the Masses," i.e. it IS the TOOL of those in power used to dull the minds and wills of the people thus making them more docile and amenable to the Will and Desires of those in power.
There a very FEW religious belief systems/dogmas out there that do NOT purport themselves to be the " Only True Religion/Belief" and act accordingly with their scriptures, etc, e.g. Buddhism, once the most peaceful of the peaceful belief systems has, in the 5-10 years, become involved in acts of violence towards other humans in S.E. Asia on a number of occasions.
Yes, there is a tendency towards violence amongst the more Fundamentalist and Radical followers of Islam brought about, in my honest opinion, by Mullahs, Imams, Ayatollahs, etc, who are simply using their religious rank to further their own ends by urging their ' flocks' to violence against anyone who is not a follower BUT, and definitely NOT in defense of Islam btw, DID NOT the Popes do exactly the same thing to start the Crusades against the Muslims in earlier times?
Sadly, in my opinion, most humans are adherents to the " Monkey see-Monkey do" philosophy in life and they will simply strive to emulate what has been done before by others who have been allowed to get away with such actions.

@OwlInASack Many of today's regressive leftists religiously accept Marxist dogma.

@OwlInASack Exactly. And whilst war-mongers and Arms Dealers/Manufacturers are given Free-Rein it will continue on sadly.

@OwlInASack The Philosophies of Karl Marx are Required Reading for anyone studying Philosophy and aiming to get a Degree in it, just as are reading the works of other authors such Jung and Nitschke, etc, etc.

@Triphid
Nothing wrong with studying all major philosophies and ideologies. Notwithstanding, western academia's active postmodernist promotion of the failed ideology of Marxism is reprehensible. If that statement offends your pet convictions, you need to study 20th century history.