I beg to differ with this very generalized bit of wishful thinking.

While it is true that most of the mainstream religions being practiced today are all based on the notion of promoting peace, enlightenment, wisdom, love, and redemption, and allowing for the fact that religion attempts to be a positive force in the world, it's also been one of the most destructive and divisive innovations ever.

Earth's bloodiest conflicts have always been religious-based. Don't believe me? Consider - the Crusades....the War of Reformation, the Thirty Years War, The Hundred Years' War, the Irish struggle between Catholics and Protestants, the Hindu-Muslim schism that led to the rift between India and Pakistan, the European conquest of the Americas, and today's Arab-Israeli Wars and our own War on Terror. All these were/are caused in some fashion by religious motives.