To say that religion is intrinsically neither good or bad is to call it benign and lacking the qualities needed in order to be a moral compass for people to sign up to.

People rarely 'sign up' to the larger well established religions, they are born into it without any choice in the matter. However, their hold is weakening as each successive generation gets wiser with improved communications and access to information. I see that as a double-edged sword though - there is no reason to suppose humanity would be any better or worse-off had we never invented religion, and it's pointless to speculate. Nevertheless, fortunately I think we are growing out of it very slowly, but slowly is the only way to do it.