Religion has always been a way to educate the masses with the authority of a higher power, one they could not refuse.
This education may have been limited, but such things as don't eat pork, be nice to your neighboor, don't kill have all been religious principles that in effect prevented desease, social unrest and made people more respectfull of law.
An other evolution with this education was to teach people how to read, and the spread of common languages, religion is one of the main reasons for why half of europe speaks latin languages... the bible was only in latin in those parts. More recently, the coran that "should" not be translated... a big reason for the spread of the arabic language.
Now this education is also on the moral values and ethics... you'll see mainly the importance of familly being put forward and helping the poor. Both of this aim to better the overall society.
Without religion, we would be in a society where people would just as well put lead paint on kids toys, created contaminated milk powder, put people into jails whenever they don't agree with the governement.... Oh wait, that's China... a country where ethical values have been lost.
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