I want to add something here. Although I find it hard to believe that god exists, even though deep in my heart I wish he did (for some reason), I think religon can be a good thing also.

Imagine Sikhism never happened... don`t even want to go there. Do you think the Sikhs could have been so motivated and optimistic in those harsh, harsh times without religon, unity, and the belief in something greater? Do you it is easier for a man to run head on into an army, outbumbered 10 to 1, if he believed that after death there will be nothingness and blackness, or if he believed that after death he will become closer to god (or reincarnated what have you).

So I think religion can also be a good thing.