...I happen to disagree with her. I think that religion was simply a way to establish brutal rule by way of heirarchies. I think there's simply no question about this when it comes to the Abrahamic faiths.

With the Middle East alone, religion turned a culture that produced most of the world's scientific discoveries into a backwards shit hole that still exists to this day.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDAT98eEN5Q

In Europe, Christianity is most noted for producing the Dark Ages. It's not an accident that the Renaissance and the Age of Enlightenment happened after the Reformation.

A better case can be made for Eastern religions, but even Buddhism has sexist attitudes, and makes absurd and unscientific claims about the nature of time.

But regardless of how you feel about the history of this, it's certainly clear that modern people do not need religion. Today, religion does nothing but hinder human progress. It is the reason why women's clinics get blown up, doctors get murdered, and why planes get flown into buildings.  

Just think of what religion has done to our sexual attitudes. Without religion, human sexuality would just be seen as a normal part of our own biology. Instead, religion has told us that our own biology is wicked and immoral.

Think of how many crazies would be produced if you were taught from birth that breathing was wrong. Or eating. Or passing a bowel movement. If anyone was brought up with those ideas it wouldn't be long before you'd have hyperventilating nutcases who were eating and shitting themselves while strapping on vests to get away from all the madness.