Excellent points. But please read the question.

QUESTION: When has religious conviction ever substantially changed the behavior of a society for the better? When has it ever caused a society to forego empire, conquest, war, even though it believed that such actions would enhance their power?

Ted, you're right, lots of bad stuff NOT in the name of religion, in fact most of it in the last century, but that's probably cos the 20th was the first century when there actually were lots of non-religious people around, coupled with lots of revolutions. (Just ordered a book on the Christian origins of National Socialism, if I get it read before this thread dies I'll report).

In any event, I don't think a scorecard is helpful. I'm asking for evidence of religious principles causing a society at large to forgoe nasty stuff that it could otherwise do to advance its power interests.