I feel like a good rule of thumb is to never take angry rants about "religion in general" at face value lmao
during my last visit to their place, my partners (jewish) and I (grew up in a household most usamericans would call atheist but, like so many chinese households, was inescapably confucian) were talking about what growing up under our respective cultures was like, and one of the things we discussed was how mainstream american thought seems to perceive religion as this like, thing that is just about Which God You Believe In and What Kind Of Holidays You Observe and What Religious Building You Worship At when it's like. it's also, culture? community? a way of life? a philosophy of doing right by others? all sorts of things that might not even involve a god?
(my partners knew a rabbi who was an atheist! and while heaven and gods exist in confucianism they are more like, treated as, kinda symbols for the kind of exalted life and harmonious social order that humans on earth should strive to attain. and even wrt usamerican christianity I've encountered people for whom the question of whether god exists and the events of the bible Actually Happened were far less important than understanding the humanity of their faith)
food for thought
The Episcopal church in my hometown hosted the local PFLAG chapter and the priest was an Atheist. When he retired, a new priest took over who tried to add Native American music to the litany of the mass. Nationwide, the American branch of Episcopalianism is notable for being among the first to accept women and gays into the priesthood, acknowledge gay marriage, advocate for queer rights, and on.
Just because the hymnbook is stuffy, doesn't mean the politics are. Shit, a lot of Catholics are liberals or Democrats, have been for decades. JFK was a damn Catholic. There's a strong tradition of straight up communism and socialism in South American Catholic theology as well.
Even amongst Christians, all Americans are not the same, and when you conflate them it only helps the fash continue to present as if they represent the religion as a whole, instead of a dangerous sect of murderous weirdos.
I get people got beef with religion, hell so do I. I grew up in fear of my own queerness because of a mother who was ardently on the rightward end of that spectrum. It was a shock to me to see that PFLAG poster on the wall when I first set foot in St. Albans; I didn't think "Christians who don't hate gays" was even a thing up to then.
But take a sec sometimes to think about the diversity of thought you help erase when you paint all religion with the same brush. The nuances you ignore could be bridges you are burning blindly, even if you are the most ardent atheist yourself.
