I see it both as a source of unconditional love and conditioning to hate.
A personal spiritual path is meaningful and healthy to many individuals. I have a feeling that it gives them the same sense that I get when I paint/read for hours. A unique kind of inner peace and strength.
The institutionalized nature of religion (“do what he says because he’s holier than thou”) seems to be the cause of many of the problems. It turns something that is really quite beautiful in to an army; constantly recruiting people, feeling superior, and at war with everyone else.
Faith (in a god, in yourself, in humanity) can give you the power to do some truly spectacular things. It also has the power to do some incredibly blind and destructive things.
A feeling of being loved and at peace is a very human thing to want and enjoy and is really quite lovely. The unconditional worshiping of an icon (a god, or an emperor) and doing acts in their name/because a figurehead tells you to mutilates that inner peace in to an assurance that what you’re doing is okay.
If you’re in a war, is killing another soldier murder?