What does it take to blame religion?

[RussBLib]

1. I don't know if I get it

Why is faith alone excused from being an impetus of evil? It isn't. Certainly not in my world. Plenty of right-minded people see that devout faith (be it Islam or Christianity, etc) can cause conflicts with other faiths, or conflicts with non-believers.

Those who would excuse the belief system from being a first cause most likely have some vested interest in thinking that way.

I don't yet understand Coyne's reference of a "belief in belief," unless he means something to the effect that, since the majority of the 7 billion or so humans on Earth at this time are believers in some form of religion, then belief gets a collective "pass" so to speak. Perhaps only when the majority of humans on Earth possess a scientific or rational thought process would we no longer have a "belief in belief"? Maybe not.

I've just started reading Coyne's latest book, Faith vs. Fact.