Is the belief in God ultimately harmful to society?

[Napoleon]

While in the past I have been pretty ambivalent about religion and its role in society, and I may be simply hungover in disgust from yesterday's Amendment One vote, I am starting to think the only way to improve society is to somehow, someway eliminate this belief in God that seems to drive people as individuals and people in groups alike to do hurtful, hateful or downright retarded things to themselves or each other.

Whether it is the BushKenya shenanigans, to the anti-gay positions of the prominent socially conservative posters, to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the South's defense and prolonging of slavery in the first half of the 19th century, religion appears to be the (or at least a) cause of many of the world's challenges. Believers are stubborn in their beliefs being true and not understanding the difference between truth and faith, which by definition is a belief unsubstantiated by proof. Is the belief in God ultimately harmful to society? Discuss whether or not morality centered around pleasing a feared higher power is better for humans in an objective sense compared to morality centered around respect for humans and basic rights.

This is not an attack toward religious posters, I genuinely want to hear your opinion on this and a defense of religious beliefs' effect on society. I don't want an argument based around charity work, either, I want to talk about the belief itself and its effect on our treatment of one another at the individual and societal level, especially toward those who don't share a religious group's point of view (regardless of the beliefs or non-belief of those individuals or communities).

[Napoleon]

So are we a New Atheist now? I could come up with a fairly compelling secular argument against gay marriage, to be honest.

Strictly speaking, no, but I could myself being pushed over the edge by the particularly dangerous groups acting in God's name. I shouldn't limit that to myself; anti-religious sentiment will increase each time religion lands a "victory" for their side. But I don't see anything inherently wrong with BRTD's or Nathan's (and a handful of others) beliefs other than *it is based on something unconnected to earthly reality and *it helps validate the beliefs of the Bad Guys.

[Napoleon]

Absence of belief.

It is funny that my thread to vent is dismissed as psuedointellectualism.