Yes, Don, but if as God you were to abolish religion...or abolish anything else...you would be depriving many people the use of their free will, thus defeating the entire exercise of life, as it were.

Think of it this way. There is no use in creating a gigantic interactive computer game, for example, based on a host of people creatively using their individual free will (within the rules and limitations of the game, naturally) if the designer of the game steps in frequently during online gameplay and forces some of the players to make only the specific moves he approves of! Such a game would hardly be worth playing, would it?

We either have free will or we don't, and my contention is that we have it. Therein lies the challenge of life. If we were not permitted to choose freely and to make our own mistakes, we would never learn anything.

In any case, the major causes of most modern (and even most ancient) conflicts have been:

a shortage of arable land

a shortage of drinkable water

poverty

overpopulation

starvation

oppressive political regimes and philosophies

xenophobia, tribalism, and nationalism

greed for material gain at someone else's expense

major financial and trade opportunities to be secured by war

entangling alliances (which are based on common interests)

Religion is often the excuse for fighting, but it is seldom the root cause of a conflict. The root cause is usually financial when you get to the bottom of it. Money drives the system...and it drove the old religious systems in Europe and Asia too, because only with large amounts of money can you maintain and equip large armies.

People who ignore all this so they can just beat on their favorite hobby horse of blaming religion for the world's troubles remind me of someone who complains about germs in the kitchen while ignoring the fact that the roof is leaking and the furnace is not working. It's a form of tunnel vision, driven not by logic but by a grudge...or a sense of superiority.