Religion

[Bridge]

but if that makes them feel good

That does not make religion itself a force of good. It's a highly corrupt system that causes a great deal of unhappiness to the majority of its followers, especially those in the developing countries, because it is almost totally incongruous with real life. Belief in a deity is fine, I would even reluctantly call it "logical", but being part of an organized religion is inexcusable.

I guarantee that if all of the religions in the world were suddenly erased from existence, and subjects concerning God and religion were not part of the coming generation's upbringing and schooling, that in the future the number of people belonging to organized religions would be less than 1%. People would, I hope, recognize organized religion as the sham it is and the other 99% would either believe in a deity or be atheists. It is my opinion, and I don't have any evidence to support it, that the only reason religion is so prominent today is because children are brought up with it.

What other possible reason could there be for children born in the Arab world to be very likely to Islamic and children born in Europe very likely to be Christian? That may seem like a stupid sentence, but really think about it. Children are literally conditioned, even if that's not the parents' intention, to believe in exactly the faith they believe. People do change faiths, but that is decidedly rarer. The fact is that children who are brought up in a non-religious home, and that does not mean a household where atheism is militantly propagated, very rarely end up being religious (as in being part of an organized religion).

Consider everything else you take for granted that arrived to you purely by upbringing, everything cultural that is. You may for example as an American be more inclined toward direct communication, speaking your mind openly and favoring unambiguous language so that there is no room for misinterpretation. Which is totally fine, but are you going to say that these cultural quirks have their origin in divinity as well?