What Is Good About Religion?

As we all (should) know, religion has had a really bad rap over the centuries. What with wars, genocides, abuse and corruption religious institutions have had to make a concerted effort to lift the game a bit and show the world what goodness it is capable of. In recent times, things have changed and we now see ah....well, religious wars, genocides, abuse and corruption along with outdated morals and social behaviors. But, let's focus on the positives and debate what good things religion has to offer nowadays:

Morals: It is true that religious followers do go to scriptures, the Bible for example, to get their morals since, obviously they seem not to have any moral compass in the first place.

Brotherhood and friendship: This is important in any social environment and it is good to see that religious people can overcome their societal alienation by sticking together like birds of a feather.

Cementing families together: Beliefs tend to be polarizing and when a member or members of a family rebel against their religious rules and practices they will be kicked out of the family for sure but the remaining die-hards will stick together as an even stronger religious family.

Charity: One of the great things about religious institutions of course is that in most places, they enjoy a tax-free status even though they make massive profits. The Vatican at last count is worth about eighteen billion dollars net, tax-free that is, now how good is that?

Mental Health: This is a big issue nowadays and as the saying goes with mental-health experts, "in order for a patient to change, the patient must be willing to change". Religious institutions, realizing that nothing short of a full-frontal lobotomy will ever change the delusions and phobias suffered by their own members actually reverse conventional wisdom by telling followers that it is alright to be like that and it is all part of sticking to "the plan and rules" God has laid out for them. That has got to be real cool; no Shrink fees.

Those are some good things about religion and I am getting a bit stuck to think of any others but perhaps someone could add to the list and keep the conversation positive.