Religion is not, in and of itself, evil. This is true.
It is in fact, quite the opposite (or the idea itself is meant to be)...
The point of religion is to provide comfort to the majority of people who find the notion of death terrifying, and would suffer unendurable grief at the loss of a loved one if not provided with some hope that "there is more!" Religion is meant to provide this hope.
The problem with the system is two-fold. In the first place, religion has progressed from a charming notion to an organized institution with a power structure; and power corrupts. Thus, even if a religion itself is not evil, those at the top of the power hierarchy with the greatest access to the collection plates are likely to become evil, or at the very least, greedy.
Second, and building on that last, there is more than one organized religion. Hence the need to quarrel and squabble and ultimately wage wars over which religion is "correct". The charming notion of "do not despair; there is something else out there" becomes the far more unpalatable "we know the exact name of the something else, and we know he wants you to give your tithes to this religion and no other."
As to a solution to the problem; regrettably, there probably isn't one. The need for hope that lost loved ones are still okay will never be absent from humanity, and as such, religion will never entirely 'go away'. The best that can be hoped for would be making religion into a more individual aspect of life rather than an institutional one (Jesus himself suggested this, see Matthew 6 and 7; but sadly, most of Jesus' biggest fans have never actually read the Bible), or failing that, somehow getting the major religions to declare a cease-fire and admit that there are enough tithes for everyone.
The common tactic of the "Internet Atheist Activist" on the other hand, only makes matters worse. These are the ones who scream and complain that Christians demand everyone else believe the same thing they do, and then they target a Christian and follow him through a dozen threads demanding that he believe nothing. Pointing out things like 'pot and kettle' and 'fight fire with fire' and 'hypocrisy' rarely has any effect except to anger the so-called atheist, and his attacks have no effect on the Christian except to strengthen his existing beliefs with a layer of indignation and self-righteousness.
Atheists need to focus all of their energy not on 'converting' others away from the church, or on 'attacking God' and calling his followers stupid, but merely on making sure the division between church and state remains in place. It is when the churches gain power, enough to influence things like the public education system, and start trying to have their 'beliefs' accepted by the courts as 'laws' that they cross over into what could categorically be defined as evil.
