Religion has been a strong force in humanity since the first cavemen. Man has always and will always look at the world and ask why. Why does lightning happen, or crops fail? Nobody knew and so religion was born. If humanity did not cause it then something did so we created the gods or the gods created us. It all depends on your point of view. Religion has many benefits and many flaws. One benefit of religion over atheism is it can act as a unifying force. Throughout most of history when people have lost everything but their lives they have had fate in something. The early Jews where conquered and enslaved. Yet they had such faith in Yahweh they survived it as a culture and people. .
Even when early Christians were hunted, persecuted, and fed to lions, most did not give up their belief in Jesus. Instead, they continued on believing in Christ knowing that if they were caught He awaited them. A second benefit of religion is that it can be a moral guideline to raise the next generation. Religion acts like guideposts so we can judge how well we have lived our lives. .
Unfortunately, like all things in life, religion has its other half. This half is dark and can potentially destroy a person or a whole group. One example can be overly religious people or groups that have been taught to hate instead of love. Almost all-terrorist groups in the Middle East use the Allah as away to justify their gruel attacks on others. They hate another group so completely for crimes long past or imagined. These people willingly commit foul acts of cruelty without a second taught. This leads me to the second downside of religion. .
Religion is a powerful tool that many people use. Unfortunately some use it so much they can no longer think for themselves. They become so dependent that they no longer are capable of judging actions for themselves. There are many forms of religion prevalent in today's society.