Perhaps he means that religions have played an important role over many centuries across many cultures and billions of people. You can argue that religion has b

Perhaps he means that religions have played an important role over many centuries across many cultures and billions of people. You can argue that religion has been used in good and bad ways but one thing I think is hard to deny is that peoples spiritual beleifs have shaped societies and what social norms prevail. The pro religion group could argue religion has had a civilizing effect on a species (homo-sapiens) that has compelled us collectivly to higher levels then our instinctual animal predecessors. The collective beleif in a set of shared moral values holds communities and societies together. The anti religion group could argue that great atrocities have been justified in the name of religion. This group often argues that we should be basing our collective beleifs on science rather then religions. (Edit: I don't beleive there are any examples yet of a large society being held together by a common beleif in science. The efforts to come up with a set of policies around global warming might be the closest thing I can think of and we all know how well that is going, not very well unfortunatly.) By my estimation the human condition and the struggles we all face leave lots of room for different view points.