saskskierThis really only addresses the assumption that religion causes war and conflict and doesn't address the topics of general morality, etc, but interesting none-the-less. "Research published in October from the New York and Sydney-based Institute for Economics and Peace looked at all of the wars that took place in 2013. It found no 'general causal relationship' between religion and conflict.
In fact, religious elements played no role at all in 14 (40%) of the 35 armed conflicts in the research, and only five (14%) had religious elements as their main cause, the report showed. All of the wars had multiple causes, and the much more common motivation was opposition to a government, or to the economic, ideological, political or social systems of a state, which was named as a main factor in nearly two thirds of the cases studied.
The Encyclopedia of Wars, an extensive study published in 2008, chronicles 1,763 wars throughout human history. It names just 123 as 'religious in nature' – a little under 7%.
The Institute for Economics and Peace report also found that having less religion in a country doesn’t make it more peaceful. The proportion of atheists in a country had no bearing on levels of peace.
Countries with the highest levels of atheism - mainly communist or former communist states like Russia and the Czech Republic - were not necessarily the most peaceful. North Korea, which has one of the lowest rates of people practising religion, was one of ten 'least peaceful' countries in world last year, according to the report."
(http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2014/11/14/religions-war-cause-responsible-evidence_n_6156878.html)
War & death are for sure the worst results of our society (let alone religion) and it would be pretty bleak state for religion if it was the main perpetrator here. Religion has most always played a huge role in tension and unrest in areas, even if war does not break out.
But we shouldn't ignore that the main orthodox religions (even if they have not been the main cause of wars) do seek to divide, oppress women, be opposed to most kinds of progression through science. Aside from the big no-no (war), religion has almost always stifled progression because each they all hold that the truth was handed down a long long time ago and anything that runs counter to that must be oppressed. Whether it was the end of the Golden Age of Islam or in the Dark Ages of Christianity, religion played a central role in stifling scientific and philosophic progression.
If religious texts are truly followed, religions claim that they each have the right account and that you must believe it to. If not, you will pay/suffer in one way or another. And this inherent divisiveness and arrogance, while it may not result in a war, definitely promotes intolerance and quite often leads to strife in one way or another.