I've noticed a disproportionate amount of religion bashing going on amongst some of the people I know and respect online.  Phrases like - 'religion is the root of all conflict' and 'religion has caused more death and destruction than anything else' have been the norm when the subject is broached. 

Now I'm as irreligious as the next athiest but these blanket statements are simply not true.  Here's some stats on the top 5 atrocities of all time:

1:  World War Two (1937 to 1945) - 50,000,000 dead
2:  Mao Zedong's Regime (1949 to 1976) - 40,000,000 dead
3:  Stalin's Regime (1924 to 1953) - 20,000,000 dead
4:  World War One (1914 to 1918) - 15,000,000 dead
5:  Russian Civil War (1918 to 1921) - 8,800,000 dead

None of these conflicts directly involved religion at all.  In my opinion they were all based on mankinds greed.  Greed for land.  For power.  For geo-political control.

It's like we don't need gods to justify our own ends anymore - we'll kill who we want for whatever reasons we like.  For revenge.  For oil.  For corporate profit.

Don't blame death and destruction on religion - we're more than capable of doing it all and worse on our own.