Someone else saying what i've been attempting to get across.
Religion is by far the greatest vehicle of civilization. It is how civilized morals and values have been taught from one generation to the next for the last 6,000 years of recorded history, and probably for 100,000 years before that. The reason is that humans are not homo sapiens, the wise hominid; we are homo fidelis, the believer.
I thought Jerome Bixby did a fine job putting it together. Made me sit back and think some things through with different points of view. Tell me what you think after.