Christopher Hitchens has passed now but he left some very thought provoking ideas regarding religions and the detrimental effects it has had onto humanity and will continue to have.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFqIiddsoKM
What he was basically saying here is that religion can and does impede critical inquiry about the world we live, about are selves and the universe in which we exist, all in an acceptance of varying spiritual ideology.