I think that in all major religions save Buddhism there are the lords at the top who call the shots for the sake of power and self-perpetuation, and the faithful at the bottom who believe what the lords tell them to believe.

From the former comes most of the evil attributed to religion.
They are rubbish.

From the latter comes most of the good attributed to religion.
They are not rubbish, just perhaps a little gullible, and I suppose, in a way, it's just as well for a lot of us that they are.