Would we currently be at this point of civilization without religions?

[TheRocketSurgeon]

new atheists like to say religion throughout the course of history has held us back... but it hasn't. at least not Christianity, which most atheists attack the most.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dgESPmh-TxY

Actually a very good, and respectful video. Thanks for posting that, Rational AKD.

I was all prepared to attack, but I have a policy of giving everything a fair shake, and I found very little in there with which to quibble (careful selection of which historical eras of deliberate Christian clergy's actions against information they saw as being contrary to the faith, especially in the 4th and 16th centuries being the primary ones), and I hope that other atheists watch it with an open mind.

Being an atheist, I would point out that the benefits of Christianity, as described in the studies and the video, would be well-substituted by any social philosophy--and there is no denying that Christianity, in ideal form, is one such--which had at its core the principles of treating others decently and behaving in a peaceful manner, which is why I promote Secular Humanism.

This objection is something like what I say to the people who point out that teen homosexuals have a higher suicide rate than heteros, pointing to the psychological problems correlated with homosexuality and calling it causality. The question is why do the data suggest such a link. In the case of the teens, a feeling of isolation and social rejection of their inescapable identity at a time when most people are struggling to find a sense of belonging and personality. 

In the case of the religious benefits on society, it is exactly the argument we constantly make: religion benefited our ancestral tribal societies so much it has become ingrained into our genes, by and large, and is so useful to the cohesion of societies that the religions have expanded as the societies did. We notice that it provides a method of control of the average citizen and assimilation of outlying individuals who bow to the conformist pressures. We notice that it is often abused in this role, and that is our primary objection to Christianity (being not the only offender, but the primary local one, the one with power in Western Civilization).

But again, good video, and I don't disagree with much of it. Well-chosen.