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I think people are overlooking the pivotal role progressive branches of religions can play in creating social change. Liberation theology in Latin America, progressive branches of Judaism and Islam, progressive Christianity in the Western world… I mean even just going back to the 1960s in the US, Martin Luther King, Jr. was able to mobilize a lot of people through his status as a Reverend.

I’m no expert by any means and feel free to correct me, but from what I’ve witnessed in my short time on this planet is that any religious/spiritual system will take on the attributes of its environment. If the rich and powerful are the ones standing at the pulpit, of course the messaging is going to be slanted in their favor.

I’ll speak on Christianity specifically it’s the religion I have the most exposure to as someone that lives in the US. (I don’t have any formal training in theology so I can’t speak from that experience — take what I say with a grain of salt.)

I grew up in a very fundamentalist and reactionary branch of Christianity. I’ve been to a few different denominations, but ultimately, it all boiled down to the Bible is the divinely-inspired Word of God, there are no errors in the Bible so it must be taken literally unless it’s a parable or something, and humanity is damaged and condemned to Hellfire unless we repent and accept Jesus’ sacrifice. This messaging was very damaging to my mental health growing up especially because of all the reactionary rhetoric I was exposed to. At the same time, now that I’m on my own, I’ve been exposed to a church congregation and pastors that are vocally anti-capitalist, provide material support to liberation movements and vulnerable communities, and denounce fundamentalism and Christian nationalism.

Applying this blanket condemnation of all organized religion implies that there is some intrinsically harmful and hierarchical nature to [organized] religion. There are plenty of critiques to be made about religion particularly in the Western world and I’m not entirely sure what I believe spiritually. But religion and spirituality predates these oppressive systems and will likely live on afterward. There are a lot of structural changes that religious institutions need to undergo so that they don’t become hotbeds of spiritual abuse and manipulation by reactionary movements.

Anyway, I’m not a theologian so I'm not an authority on this topic but those are my two cents.