Religion has been, for the most part, a highly negative force in the world.

Firstly, I would like to make it very clear, that I am not claiming religion to be the only cause for the atrocities throughout the history of human civilisation. Neither am I saying that atrocities will not take place in the absence of religion. Religion may give people a false sense of comfort(in my opinion), but the violence and bigotry that people do in it's name are far worse than the warm fuzzy feeling people get by having faith in an all powerful being. Violent people and psychopaths will continue to do violent and psychopathic things. But only religion and faith can make otherwise good people do bad things, by convincing them that they are morally correct. Following are the main reasons why I believe religion has been a very bad influence on the world. 1. Terrorism, Violence and abuse These may be the most cruel, horrifying, and disgusting things a living being can ever experience. Recent events in France have shown us how harmless satire is responded with violence and murder. Religion causes people to fly themselves into buildings, and has been used as basis for mass genocide. Women and children were raped, people were enslaved, all justified by books with fairy tales written by people with primitive minds who probably also thought the Sun and stars revolved around the Earth. These could have been avoided to a great extent if religion did not exist. 2. Political influence Religion is highly influential political processes and is a huge threat to some of the most vital human rights, such as the freedom of speech and expression. The rights of people in the minority such as the LGBT community are squeezed to such a limit that it leads to alienation, depression, and in many cases also death. Just because people are born different or choose a different way of life, they must not be subject to discrimination or mental torture which is often based solely upon religious beliefs. There is no logical, rational or medically relevant reason for which LGBT people should be denied equal rights. Thus the reason behind governments denying such rights is because they are full of irrational bigots who base their opinions and morals on religious beliefs. When religion comes in the way of human rights, then I'd say it becomes a negative force in the world. 3. Education and Scientific thought No one has the right to impose their beliefs onto others. Religious parents send their children to religious schools and hence impose non-scientific and irrational beliefs, which, in essence is child abuse. Most religious educational organizations such as catholic and Islamic schools censor proven scientific facts such as evolution from science textbooks, which causes children to be unaware of scientific advances which contradict with the teachings of religious institutions. Home-schooled children are taught lies about the origin of species and the universe, which is absolutely unacceptable. When such children go to college, they are alienated by others due their primitive thoughts, and college education mostly fails to incorporate scientific thought into these students. http://censorshipineducation.wikispaces.com... 4. Medicine Primitive ideas about human biology and religious beliefs cause people to make wrong medical decisions, which leads to injury and death in many cases. People often do not consent to medical treatment just because it contradicts their religious ideas. They often come to think that they are protected by a higher power, or have the incorrect idea of going to a better place after death.When religious parents make such decisions for their minor children, they often die. http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org... http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com... The pope made ridiculous assertions, that condoms are wrong, and worsen AIDS, which led to 2 million more AIDS deaths of people who sadly believed his words. http://www.theguardian.com... Religion hence makes making rational medical decisions hard, if not impossible, for religious people. These are the main reasons why the world will do much better without religious institutions which promote unscientific, immoral, filthy and dangerous thoughts and actions.