Name one benefit religion brings that cannot be achieved by secular means.
That's like asking to name one benefit homosexuality brings that cannot be achieved by heterosexual means.
no. sexuality is just a preference, it supports nor supplies any ideas. Believing in a religion requires you to believe things, its not just a taste or preference. Every religion requires you to accept or deny certain factual claims about reality. beliefs =! preference. I already outlined the hazards of religion, how it has indisputably been used to destroy and restrict scientific research.
You completely failed to answer what I said.
My point was:
1. Religion has facilitated negative acts that would have otherwise not occurred. There's no reason to burn books/lock up people that dispute what the Koran or the Bible says if you did not believe what those books say.
2.There is nothing positive about religion that you can't get via non religious means. Peace of mind, moral guidance, hope, every single claim I've heard for the benefits of religion can be found without having to believe in supernatural claims.
3. From points 1 + 2, at best religion is no more positive than non-religion, at worst it is harmful. Even if you don't accept religious belief has EVER led to
bad choices, then at best it is still only as good as non religion, which makes it a useless set of beliefs. Not that beliefs need to have a use, I'm just making the point.
If you want to believe in some improvable deity, then go ahead, I never made the claim that you shouldn't be allowed to believe in whatever you want, this was not my point. Since most religions deal with inherently intangible and ineffectual subjects (souls, gods, heavens and hells that can't be reached in the 'living' universe, anything that can't actually be measured), it seems pretty futile to me to spend any amount of time considering something that cannot be proved, and has no actual effect on your life that can't be achieved via non religion. The very fact that to accept one religion you have to dismiss dozens of others which have exactly the same amount of proof is enough to make the whole thing seem very asinine.
Now answer my original point please. One benefit that religion brings that cannot be gained by non religious means.