I wonder, though. When you say that "religion has historically been a vessel for good deeds," can you say who those good deeds were aimed at? I mean, traditionally, religions have fought one another like crazy, killing wantonly.I think religion has historically been a vessel for good deeds, looking at the model Zoroastrianism started way back when (Good Thoughts, Good Words, Good Deeds)... I think people of good will would have found other avenues for this notion had religion never existed, but at the same time, religion can, and has been a popular way of expressing the notion of altruism historically.
...Not sure about the "selflessness" aspect of altruism though... As some religions don't recognize that.
So I put I don't know, because I think it depends on the religion.
What was the massacre of the Canaanites about? Exterminating another religion, or just taking their land (and daughters)? What were the Crusades about, if not trying to exterminate "the infidel?" What was the persecution of Jews about if not -- well, persecuting Jews?
Even just within Christianity, during the reformation and counter-reformation, Protestants and Catholics were burning each other like crazy for not worshipping the right way! You can't deny that is false.
Or how about missionaries? You know, those people who went out into the world to take other people's beliefs away from them, and replace them with their own. And if that meant that those people had to die, well, that was okay, because hey, they were "heathens" anyway, right?
In those examples I gave, how many Christians were exhibiting the same spirit that Jesus praised in the story of the Good Samaritan? Not many, so far as I can tell.