Gruntle Me!

The Human is unique in the animal world in being able to learn from the mistakes of others – and equally in being adamantly averse to doing so!
Religion is the most poisonous fiction ever to be inflicted on Humanity.

Recent developments in world politics have highlighted these perspectives.

Let’s take the latter first.
For all its worthy and worthwhile social benefit, Religion (at root a human construct) in the modern global environment foments WAR! Every religion asserts “This is the best way to live”, and this works well locally (geographically and temporally), but leads to elitism and exclusivity. Friction arises and tends to escalate when different religions come in contact if that geo-temporal aspect is not accounted for; this implies need for and use of Human Intelligence (a rare commodity) and Communication – often impeded by Cultural/Language differences.

Now the former.
Our modern world has, with developments in Communication (from the written word to the printed and published to the more recent globally digitally-connected), highlighted both recent and historical developments in world politics. The same exclusivity as noted above has occurred here – and has always historically been defeated by inclusivism and intelligent reasoned dialogue. Let’s list just some:

The rise of Protestantism and its now-peaceful co-existence with Catholicism.
The freeing and integration of Slaves in the US (still not complete, but gradually progressing).
The defeat of Nazism with its anti-Jew and ‘Aryan’-exclusive pogroms (still with remnants of adherents).
The fall of the Berlin Wall and the Soviet Socialist Totalitarian state and subsequent amelioration of its micro-managed society. Gads, what sort of idiot ignores this?
The peaceful defeat of Apartheid – a triumph of Dialogue, though cultural Elitism persists.

There’s a useful perspective on this, too:
The Elite enjoy many benefits, and this causes Envy – a natural reaction given Mankind’s innate questing for ‘more, better, greener pastures’. This can be ameliorated by universal availability of the means (path) to attainment/acquisition: Education and guidance. The Elite can thus be a living embodiment of an attainable Goal.