The desire to be A-religious

I came across a blog, 'Maverick's Domain', with a particular post on the 'need' to be 'a-religious'. There was a sense of disillusionment that I found hard to miss. When Karl Marx said that religion was the opium of the masses, I am sure he was voicing similar sentiments. I, however, would like to respectfully disagree.
We humans are an exigent race. When religion seems imposing, it becomes cumbersome. But when need arises, we all turn to God in despair. We all do. And unfortunately we cannot have religion custom made to our individual needs and situations. We may damn religion for whatever it stands for. But when our car dangles precariously over a cliff after an accident, we pray fervently for a safe return. Oh well. Man has always been a confused species.
The problem perhaps then, is not with religion per se but with our interpretation of religion. Maverick talks disdainfully of the unfortunate Graham Stein's murder, the Gujarat riots , the divide-and-rule policy of the Imperialists and the terror wreaking Arabs. I totally agree with her here. (I assume it's a 'she', there was no profile info to check with!)
But what makes us think that these tragic events happened BECAUSE of religion alone and what guarantee that they would NOT have occurred had there been no religion at all?
Yes, religious texts do teach us the cliched concepts like tolerance and benevolence, etc., etc. But cliched as they are, they are also sorely lacking in us. But for these texts, we would probably not even know that these are concepts worth valuing, the uncouth race that we are.
If there had not been any standards set in the first place, we would have cared little for any deviations.
Why blame religion when it is the misguided practitioners who cause all the mischief? And who can tell, they would have thirsted for blood even if they were atheists. Maverick exhorts us to 'shed the pretense' of religion as it leads to no growth whatsoever. Now 'growth' can be a very tricky term. And sometimes it comes in very inconspicuous packages as well.
A brilliant young boy I know was told that cheating in exams was deplorable as it was theft and that God hated thieves. It was this belief that kept him going. He was assigned an exam center for HSC where cheating was rampant. He was even offered a few answer books. He refused, despite the temptation. For him topping this exam was of utmost importance, but he resisted. Why? Because his religion taught him to. Everyday he would come back; sad, disheartened and frustrated. He knew his friends were gaining an edge over him. But he trudged on. When the results were to be out, he didn't even bother to dress up for the occassion. It was only when the college sent the professors and peons to fetch him did he realize that he had topped the entire division (and the state in one of the subjects) that year. He was an overnight celebrity.
Even if he hadn't it would not have been such a bad thing. Because now when he is employed in a reputed MNC, his employers know that they have an honest, God-fearing employee. He is worth a lot of trust, a trust on which they base the 'growth' of their company.
A little learning, they say, is a dangerous thing. The fault usually does not lie in religion but on how we take religion. It is the half baked ideas about God that lead to all grief. As for the 'murderous Islamic countries' that Maverick talks about, I have always maintained that if Muslims only read the Quran with understanding (and followed it), there would be little to complain against them; it's so simple. Alas, we have made the simple things complicated with our own additions.

The distance between us and Allah...

"The distance between us and Allah is the length of our desires; the shorter this length, the closer we are to Allah"

I quote my cousin here. Sometimes youngsters can amaze you with the wisdom they exhibit. My young cousin deeply impressed me with his ideas when we interacted last week. He told me to read some Quran-said that we soon realize then that if we have our Eeman with us, it is not the end of the world yet.
"Maybe some good will come of this." That was the refrain in the story he narrated to me. An old farmer keeps telling that to himself every morning as his only sheep, only goat and only dog are devoured by a hungry wolf in three consecutive nights. The fourth night the entire village is raided by dacoits who rob all the villagers of all their possessions but spare the old farmer's house thinking that since he had no live stock, he would be too poor to have anything worth robbing. There was some good in an apparent evil. But it requires immense amount of faith to believe in that till the good actually begins to show. Sub-hanallah. May Allah always give us enough patience to believe in His wisdom and power till the difficult times tide over. Ameen