I agree with a lot of what you say there vdb. Where we probably disagree though is that religion is the answer to the ills of society. Like Hak says, morality is not the preserve of the faithful. I find much about the way the world is utterly soul destroying, but the reasons for the way it is are largely socio-political (and the political often claim to be religious - the Blairs and Bushes of the world), and in some cases directly down to religion (or at least the abuse of it).
There was an interesting thread a few weeks ago about why there hasn't been a revolution - apathy has a lot to do with it. Lack of community cohesion on one hand, and a tendency to think 'us and them' on the other - something many religions or at least various sects encourage. I think it is one reason why i am more drawn to traditions like Buddhism and Taoism that emphasise our sameness, rather than our differences.
Remember the John Lennon song - they keep you doped with religion, sex and tv. The way to escape this conditioning is to think critically about what you are hearing and seeing, to ask why you are being told something, to ask why the media reports some demonstrations but not others, to ask why ukip is given more air time than other minority parties, to ask why Cheryl Cole is in the front page when hundreds have died that night in Gaza, to ask why creationists keep talking about C14 in relation to dinosaurs when it is actually like trying to measure the speed of traffic with a thermometer.
This is why science works. You are allowed to ask questions, to challenge findings - it is actively encouraged. I used to have faith - asking questions was also encouraged, but the difference was that i was expected to accept the answers, or think about it but come to the 'right' answer - i came to different conclusions. In this respect things like social media can be amazing tools to free yourself from the crap we are fed - you can find out what is happening in the world and what you are not being told, and then ask yourself why.
Something like tv or the internet are just tools - you can use them for good or ill, but when humans fashioned the first tool from flint the choice was there whether to use it to cut food or attack your neighbour with it. Should we not have developed the tools? Would it not be better to teach children to learn to use tools carefully and with thought, than to pretend the tools don't exist - what happens when they accidentally stumble across a blade and don't know how to use it safely? Much in society is of itself not good or bad - it is the purposes to which they are put, and the reasons behind it. If you can understand these reasons then you go a long way to freeing yourself from the fog of all that weed they are forcing on us!
Now i've had a rant 