Seven-year-old sacrificed to the gods for good harvest in India

[LeftishBrit]

15. So have many things, depending on circumstances

You could say that nationality should be abolished because it sometimes leads to war and violence. Some would say just that; others would say it's unrealistic and that one should campaign against war, rather than against nationhood. I'd be in the latter camp (in my view, nationalism is a bad thing, until it's compared with its two main current alternatives: imperialism and tribalism). Some would say that family loyalties are a bad thing, because they have often led to feuds or to discrimination. Etc.

To seek to abolish all religion on the ground that it is sometimes used in the cause of violence, discrimination, or murder reminds me a bit of Prohibition: the desire to abolish all use of alcohol, because its misuse can lead to addiction, crime, domestic violence, etc. Prohibition of alcohol is neither justifiable nor, as it turned out, practically possible. Prohibition of religion is IMO still less justifiable or possible. (I am not equating religion with alcohol! But I am equating attempts at wholesale prohibition of an activity, when one should really be focusing on the misuse.)

Also, how do you define 'religion' at this point? Any strongly held ideology may be used in the cause of violence. Should we consider Communism, or devotion to the free market, or adulation of a monarch or political leader, as a religion? All of these have been used to justify wars and persecutions.