[Cavernio]

Spitfire, unfortunately because it's incredibly awkward, you would need to read and respond to all my posts in the thread, not just that single one, as they have a flow and I believe I begin by addressing what you've said in my first post of the thread.
Eg: white supremacy didn't arise from religion, nor does it need support from God to make these people think they're in the right. That many white supremacists seem to be christian speaks to what I see the root of the problem as being; people who won't consider that they're wrong or who won't try to better themselves or who blindly follow what someone else says or who would become outcasts if they adopted different values.
Ah, an even better example would be Hutus and Tutsis in Rwanda, a massive conflict that has nothing to do with religion.

"Too often is it used to promote bigoted and outdated ideas" I agree with that statement. But putting a blanket of religion over bigoted and outdated ideas doesn't make it the religion that's wrong. Religion adopts all sorts of beliefs and moral standpoints that are hot topics of debate within their own cultural context, they're not static belief systems.

"It is pretty obvious that religion was the single biggest driving force behind the Salem Witch Trials and that it wasn't done as some sort of group-bonding exercise. Group-bonding may have been an after-effect but it wouldn't have been the primary cause. You need a stronger motive to do that, something which religion can provide."

I didn't means to say it was a group-bonding excersise, I was trying to say that it was the force of a group of people outting people who were different than themselves. Which now that I read more about them isn't really true as it was all about trying to find someone to blame for what was probably ergot poisoning.
(Totally aside it makes me see that medicine is still just as retarded as it was back then because if you don't have an explanation, we still blame in on things that are fairly baseless, instead of demons it's all just in your head. Oh how we've advanced.)

I also realize how impossible it is to separate religion from culture when religion IS the only culture. I couldn't have picked a worse thing to reference to try and support my point, since yes, if people didn't believe witchcraft existed, this would never have happened. And yes, in this case, I do see religion as the precipitating cause. I should stick to modern events that we can dissect and understand the context.
Nevertheless, I 100% disagree, in general, that the desire to be part of a group isn't strong enough motive for people to believe someone's done something they haven't and then do horrendous things to them. It's almost the only motive. Even reading this terrible example, the Intial Events section that wikipedia has about the salem witch trials sites that every single one of those people is an outcast or dissenter of some sort, someone who's not part of the usual group, before the whole thing escalates.