Even though religion has caused a lot of division and differences between people of different faiths in recent times, I still think religion plays a vital role in society. Religion has aided the unification of men in the society than any other thing in the world. Without religion, more division would have been present in our today's society.
During and after the death of Christ, early Christians were persecuted on a daily basis by the Roman empire. Have you ever wondered why the Romans who were arch enemies of early Christians decided to adopt Christianity as their one true religion?
Emperor Constantine took over the rule of Rome from his father during the early days of Christianity. He was known as a conquerer due to his many successful war campaigns. When he realize how the christian faith was growing and causing division between his empires, he decided to adopt the religion as an effective means of conquering and unifying the world instead of continuous battles and blood shed. He was a true visionary. And his method played well conquering more places and people than any war campaign would have ever achieved.
Hence, asides from the spiritual importance of religion, I see religion as an ultimate weapon, a weapon with the ability of controlling man's entire life. Religion has helped shape the way we think, behave and react to different situations. It has helped in improving man's sanity and willingness to conduct ourselves in the most decent and acceptable manner. Imagine if the entire world were to realize religion was false, the amount of chaos that will ensue can only be imagined.