Is Religion Relevant?

Recently, a friend of mine (a major in the hard sciences) told me that he thought religion was irrelevant. I laughed a little - of all the things that one can say about religion, good and bad, I didn't think "irrelevant" was...well, a relevant adjective.

Of course, he knew perfectly well what a force religion was in politics, current events, and international relations. But he didn't see why it was relevant in people's lives. After all, science was offering numerous empirical facts on issues that were once the provenance of religion. How could people believe that God had raised someone from the dead? Or spoke the words of a holy book to a man in a cave?

So I said, "Let's undertake a short primer in Buddhism."

This friend has been going through some hard times recently, so I told him to look at what had been giving him grief: longing for the past, for something that's gone and can't return - and maybe shouldn't return. Examine this longing, and at its root you'll find craving and thoughtless desire, which is the ultimate obstacle in Buddhism. Consider this desire you have thoughtfully, and you'll be able to cast it aside. (And, I added, I don't mean to preach to you because I'm no better - where you're stuck in the past, all my focus is on the future. This is no healthier, because the future is just as intangible as the past, and even more subject to cravings and impositions).

He thought about this for a long time. But, he replied, in respect to our discussion, this is just common sense, this isn't religion.

I didn't have an answer for him then, but I've thought of one now. If we posit that religions are characterized by their reliance on faith, and that this reliance makes them irrelevant, let's consider Buddhism. The ultimate goal of Buddhism is to achieve the state of nirvana, having moved past all attachments and into a state of bliss. But the Buddha also avoided discussing nirvana, and told his disciples that they would understand the terrain when they arrived there. Doesn't it take faith to think that you can even achieve such a state?

What do people think about the relevance, or irrelevance, of religion on people's personal lives? What aspects of religion are relevant in a beneficial way, and which in a negative way?