Nations go to war for land and material gain, Religion is used to recruit.
It also feed our power need and sense of belonging, my countries the greatest, we will destroy you, religion gives another feeling of pride besides nationalism to cling to.
Can somoney explain how a small African tribe, and the Egyptians, new of the existence of a star you cannot see with an ordinary telescope when they never even had telescopes at all.
Without a fear of God and an afterlife to strive for, man's laws would still be in place to keep us in line.
After all the religious are still sinning, even at the highest level.