I agree it has caused wars in the wrong hands. But that should not take away from the fact that it united men in the beginning. I agree that you dont need religion for morality, but I think having it will help install morality at a better level. Take for example the following analogy:
We dont need schools to study. We can learn to read and write on our own, through our parents, just as we would learn moral values from them. But having an education system obviously improves our learning abilities. The way an education system affects learning is the same way in which religion affects morality.
Religion has a smaller role now, but it had a great role once. When it wasn't being misused, it lead to socities which still exist today after thousands of years. Like from the analogy beofre, you're not gonna be a bad person by not being religious. But having an organized method of teaching children morals (or even adults), specially aethists who have no means of doing so other than their parents and what they learn themselves, would prove much more advantageous.
I also agree that religions in wrong hands can cause a great deal of misery. If you notice, much of the misery actually comes from the NAME of your god rather than its values. Like you said, everyone practices, to some extent, a part of the ten commandments. What is different for most part is what they call their god. What I was getting at is this:
What if you had an organization, like a religion, which said nothing about God or what his name was, but simply how men should live, what should be important in our lives, what is right and what is wrong. This would reduce the wars over what God's name is (Allah? God? Krishna?) and also allow a STRUCTURED way for aethists to build their moral values without being forced to believe in something you know doesnt exist.
Let me know if that makes sense, or if I should explain it further. I hope you take this matter seriously, because this is something I have really thought about for years and am convinced is the right way for us to go.
