Religion: A force of evil in our world?

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/toronto/story/2010/11/26/religion-good-evil-poll-hitchens-blair.html
As you follow my blog you will come to understand just how strongly I feel about this topic and how absolutely imperative I feel it is to separate Church and State.  Having studied world history both in an Honours B.A. and a M.A. I could attribute almost every major negative event in our history as having some link, somewhere, to religion.  I therefore couldn't agree more with: The avowed atheist has written that organized religion is "violent, irrational, intolerant, allied to racism, tribalism, and bigotry, invested in ignorance and hostile to free inquiry, contemptuous of women and  coercive toward children." and I like this too "Hitchens, who is battling esophageal cancer, added that if "religious instruction were not allowed until the child had attained the age of reason, we would be living in a quite different world." 

I may be a tad dramatic for throwing this out there but isn't it almost child abuse to force religious beliefs upon children before they reach a rational age where they are able to make informed decisions for themselves?? Really, if religion is a wonderful source of redemption, healing, and strength wouldn't all of humanity be naturally drawn to it? Why does it have to be legislated, indoctrinated into society and youth, and forced upon those who have made an informed and reasoned decision not to follow it?

I always find it ironic that the Conservative Party of Canada and the Republican Party in the U.S. consistently preach about having less intrusive government in our lives, rid our society of big government, but anything remotely connected to religion suddenly they're all for legislating it into our private lives.  Anyone else see the hypocrisy of this?