The argument that religious beliefs are good for society is IMO very week. I see very little correlation between safe, prosperous, high-trust societies and religious beliefs.
What I see is religion beeing used as an effective excuses to do what you would have otherwise already done, bee it good and bad.
The issues with that is of course that we often exempt religious beliefs from the scrutiny and demands we place on other beliefs. Both demands from within and for each others.
I think massive religious insitutions have not been good for society, but common beliefs for communities is a net good. Decentralization at it's finest.
To your second point, I agree. However, I was an ahteist for most of my adult life (33 now) and considered myself a good person. Now that I have Faith, I haven't changed being a good person. It may be different for others though. Some people need external influence/motivation to do good.
Seeking justification for your actions is inherent to being human. This is why I think spirituality (religious or otherwise) is critical to the human condition.
I agree with the third point. We should always be asking questions. If your pastor or religious leader prohibits questions, then find another one. We should always be seeking answers and truth. Even in religion.
I think the word Faith is central to my problem with religion. You HAVE faith, not convinced by the evidence into faith. (That is at least the picture I have gotten after speeking to and reading religious people)
Everyone has faith in something. It's just that most people don't actively choose or are even aware of what things they have faith in.
Can you provide some examples of safe and prosperous secular societies? The main ones that come to mind are communist countries which haven't fared too well historically.
Also what do you mean by justifying what we would have already done? Do you mean if we didn't have a 2,000+ year Judeo-Christian tradition that we'd have the same morality? There are a lot of ideas that ethical monotheism introduced that were completely alien at the time so this seems unlikely.
Good example could be to compare https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_Development_Index and https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Importance_of_religion_by_country
All top 5 in HDI are in 20 twenty of lowest importance of religion.
