Seeing ourselves in the context of society

Should we move to a secular society or does religion have, over-riding value.

The secularists believe that what is fundamental in society is each man and woman, each citizen has a unique position in being first and foremost within the societies hierarchy. It is this belief that men and women have the right to choose their stand on faith that precludes leading young children through a daily diet of faith based belief.
Religionists believe that God and the teaching of God comes first and that the historical position of the Church to preach the teaching has a special value to the society as it purports to lead people through an ethical based list of do's and don'ts.  

When one listens to a debate on matters, which go to the root of our comprehension of who we are and how we answer such basic questions, one is left feeling affinity for both groups as they tussle with unanswerable concepts. The sympathy for each position is based on the recognition that these people are concerned about their fellow man but have an immense gulf to cross to reach a common goal. Perhaps not the goal so much as the journey.

Listening one is struck by the intensity of their position but also that these are caring, intelligent people who have opinions and beliefs, not necessarily for the usual insular, selfish position, what's in it for me but really do care for people in society at large.

The problem is that these entrenched positions become a creed, which eventually tend to intolerance of all other positions and deny the very essence of what the secular humanist or the person who is religious say they want.

Asserting a special identity, (religious, non-religious) is a problem since it can lead to intolerance of every other view.  The person who identifies his "very being" in a religious continuum is often determined to confront the non-believer with a "satisfied surety", confirmed by faith and belief.
The secularist is convinced that the "individuals right", trump all talk of the primacy of God and find that faith is no basis for developing our primary need to see ourselves within the context of society at large.