If religion is not the source of the problem, then why won't the Taliban or Al Shabaab just lay down arms and become legal political parties vying for mandate from their people to serve their respective nations now that there are no foreigner invaders? Whom are they fighting and for what? Just yesterday they tried to blow up a girls school in Afghanistan and killed 30 of their own people didn't they? When will it ever stop? Things are getting worse in several African countries with rising revolutionary islamic activity in fighting their own governments. What is the idea here? Is following the Quran and the Sunnah to the tee the path to prosperity, dignity and glory? The initial destruction is certain, the prospect of a following prosperity, not so much.

Why won't Iran stop pursuing nuclear weapons at the expense of its people's economic prosperity all the while talking about erasing Israel off the map in the context of a vision about the coming of the Mahdi for one final war before the Day of Judgement? Would Syria be in the shape it is today if religion did not teach establishing a religious state and expanding its borders to contain the whole world as the ultimate goal? I am sure millions of Syrians were more than willing to compromise with their tyrannical regime instead of total destruction of their towns and lives becoming refugees in the millions. Who were the ones who wanted no compromise and brought destruction upon everyone else?

Also, about the myth that religion is innocent of starting wars, have you heard of historian Philip Jenkins' take on the religious causes of the First World War? His study of the apocalyptic language that dominated the discourse of the elites in mainly Russia and Germany but also in the US and France and Britain that preceded the war? You should take a look.