Religion is evidence of man's ignorance

I have a problem with your very broad definition of religion. If as you say "a religion is an organization of beliefs and traditions that a group of people take part in to gain spiritual fulfillment" then where do you draw the line between religion and other group-oriented functions that satisfy the same requirements? Like national identity and the subsequent feeling of patriotism that comes with it? The rabid love of a particular celebrity, sport or political party shared by you with thousands of other people? Is the NRA a religion? After all, its members seem to view guns as an object of adoration and they talk about their willingness to die for their cause if need be. Sure, most of these sentiments can be found in a house of worship but I won't categorize any of these people as being in a religion without inviting a considerable amount of derisive denial. Religion to me, and I suspect to most people, is the organizing around that enduring belief and faith in an unknown, mysterious and unquestionable entity or force that is alleged to have control of the universe. For religion to be religion, it has to have a figurehead of sorts. Something or someone generally acknowledged to be presiding over those who worship it, be it an idol, an animal or an invisible being whose existence is a matter of unquantifiable emotions. All religions MUST as a matter of definition have a godhead. Buddhism is not a religion. It"s a way of life. Atheism is absolutely not a religion. No two ways about that. You mentioned the abstract nature of religion as opposed to the definite answers that science provides. Let me gently disagree with the second part of your assumption. Science more than any other discipline I know is the most self-correcting of them all. Progress in science occurs when a previous theory is disproved. Science is always trying to prove itself wrong. For example, while the laws of gravity are accepted as they are today based on what we currently know, if tomorrow a different more workable theory was proven to be true, what we know today will be irrelevant except as a matter of history. That is the magic of science. Do you ever envision a time when religion will gleefully abandon the concept of creationism based on new evidence? Where would Christianity be if its members saw and called out the fraud that is the virgin birth? Religion relies on ignorance, fear and the promise of doom to keep its flocks in line. Everything good you have so far mentioned about religion, it seems to me, is an innate sense of society that all of us are born with. It does not come from any holy book or organization of like-minded believers. In other words, humans give religion its morality and beliefs. Not the other way around. Lastly your reluctance to blame religion for its misdeeds is disheartening to say the least. Religion is the only thought process "other than that which resides in mentally disturbed people" that gives "regular" people a justification to be truly cruel. I suspect most if not all that gives us our sense of being, identity, ego etc. will one day be logically explained by neuroscience. Just as we can now explain why the sun rises in the east and sets in the west. Over to you.