Well, Kevin, those great composers, artists, architects and builders would still have existed, and who knows what secular masterpieces they would have delivered themselves of had there never been religion?   As for religion going bad, it goes bad as soon as it leaves the private confines of the minds of individuals. Whether the world would be a safer place either with or without religion or its cultural offshoots is moot. It can hardly be claimed that religion has made the world safer. Still, I love the culture generated by religion, though I always think of Michelangelo being threatened and railroaded in the most unchristian way into producing his sacred masterpieces...