I am not sure how you see this, but for me religions in Civ IV were a big part for realism, as about half of the wars in mankind were fought on religious ideas. I liked the idea of seeing a neighbour changing their religion and therefore having a direct cooldown in the relations up to hateret.
I know it will make things much more easier for the AI to have no religion there anymore and also the game will be easier to sell in other markets where religion is still a very sensibile theme - but for me this descicion takes quite some fun from Civ.
Anyway, as everyone else, I can't wait to see and try Civ V
