Next part: "Religions are inherently political tools. A religion doesn't thrive where the king is against it. The only ones that come down to us today are those that royals allowed to hang around. And that would only be because that religion served their interests."

Yeah, I agree with that. For sure. The big religions worked as tools of the big royals...or vice versa in a few cases.

That's why I prefer something like Taoism, because it doesn't lend itself at all to that kind of use. Confucianism, on the other hand, fits governmental power structures like a glove.