I do agree that it probably does more harm than good. But I believe people should be allowed to voluntarilly follow whatever religion suits them if they find a benefit to being part of a community of the same belief system. 9 times out of 10 religion is about teaching morality. On the grand scale, it becomes harmful when it is used to control people, because knowing what people firmly believe makes them vulnerable to having those beliefs used against them. All you need to do to make something that is immoral perceived as OK (or the lesser evil) is to use their faith in their religion to rationalise it and then start preaching/teaching that through the institution. If the stories and narratives can be manipulated to portray women as greater sinners, or portray sex outside of permission from the church (wedlock) as a sin, then this is what I believe is happening.
Rather than do away with religion completely (as I wouldn't say it's possible) I would say that culturally people need to start teaching acceptance of all faiths and rejection of institutionalised faith. Religion isn't always institutionalised. Sometimes it can be just a community of shared faith, which exists due to human nature. The challenge would be to allow everybody to both accept the existence of other faiths within their community and reject any belief they find morally challenging, regardless of who they learn it from. I think the problems arise when we give full authority to these institutions to command and determine what our religion is.
Agreed! Thank you for arguing it out extremely soberly. Wish you all the light in the world 😊