Is religion still relevant in modern society?

[sapphi_snake]

Mr Khan said:

HappySqurriel said:
There are certain commonalities between all major religions and certain structural similarities across all stable societies, and (while some would use this to argue about the truth of religion) it could be argued that a form of societal evolution determined that these features were necessary for a stable and successful society. The decline in religion throughout much of the western world has translated to a weakening of many of these values and structures, and there have been many adverse impacts on society in general.

While I think society can survive without religion, we need to find a way to maintain/preserve order in the absence of religion for this to happen; which probably means protecting these values/beliefs and structures without religious justification.

I would argue that factors like rule of law and low corruption have increased apace with the lessening of the importance of religion, barring societies where institutions that delegitimized such factors were also atheistic in composition (e.g. Communism)

That's neglecting the huge corruption that existed in Eastern Europe, especially the Balkan region, way before Communism. You'll actually find that less religious states (e.g. the Scandinavian ones) are also less corrupt than more religious ones (e.g. Greece, Turkey, Romania).