The group of 11th grade guys that gathers at my church on Wednesday afternoons wrestled with this Soul Pancake prompt yesterday: does religion do more harm than good?
Most students expressed a conviction that religion does a lot of good for people. It’s a force for positive growth and change for millions. But they expressed with greater conviction their awareness of the harm that religion has caused in the world, namely as a goad to war.
I reflected, “It sounds like you’re saying that religion does a lot of good on a micro level but a lot of harm on a macro level.” Yes, they said. That’s it.
“I wonder,” I said, “How something that is so good on a micro level can be so bad on a macro level.” No answers.
What’s your answer?
YoRocko! 
You should have them read Reinhold Niebuhr’s Moral Man and Immoral Society. 🙂
Is there a sparknotes version? 🙂
I think religion makes its mark on a macro scale too. Consider though that conflict and destruction maybe a simpler task than understanding and construction. I think there is also a genetic predisposition for behavior we often call “tribalism” . This was very valuable for our species for a long time to fear and destroy people different than us. Religious doctrine is what behavior analysts call “rule governed behavior”. There is competition between our genetic predisposition and the cultural rules established for “peace”.