We got scared

Nonsensical Hyperbole, pure and unadulterated.

Religion = cruelty: the Inquisition being only one of many examples.

Religion = selfishness: the treatment of the masses in the majority of Catholic countries where Church owned wealth benefited the Church without regards for the principles of Christian charity espoused by that same church.

Religion = murderous nature: witness the slaughter of Christian Armenians by Islamic Turks, Orthodox pograms against the Jews, and Catholic slaughter of Mezo-Americans.

Religion does not allow men to transcend anything, it engenders fear and superstition that aids in producing atrocities and mayham. It retards civilization and we need to outgrow it, totally, completely and unequivocally.

Of course the faithful will spin the record in an attempt to show that these cases and all the others were man exercising god-given free will but it's really hard to see how that helps the victims, who presumably were shot, burnt, impaled, beheaded and starved because god wanted them to be. Or does free will only apply to perpetrators of violence and abuse?