Originally Posted by sleepy jack

No, a cop out is saying "if religion never existed than the world would be no different." When you look at the history of the Middle East you'll see religion has done nothing to stabilize the region and is what is tearing it apart. Cruelty exists in that area because of religion; it has nothing to do with some desire in all humans to inflict pain on one another. Muslims extremists, suicide bombers, Islamofascism and the lashing of this woman all exist because of religion, not in spite of it. Religion has been the most intellectually dangerous thing of the past several centuries, to argue the world would be no different without at it is just stupid.