I think we need to separate out the elements of organised religion though. Some are beneficial to society others not. The elements of any religion which are not tend to be those manipulating the concepts of a belief system and the concepts of God in order to exert earthly power. Perhaps the most striking example of this was the Albergensian crusades. Whether anyone did cry out “kill them all, God will know his own” we will never know, but this just sums up the situation, God being used as an excuse to exert power. You can see this equally amongst other man made power structures such as the far left snd the far right, the patriarchy. In fact in any of the fundamental basis of Empire building. In short the Evil lies in man insisting on his supremacy over a God often by appropriating it to their cause.
But to a lonely person in a small town religion brings a light into their loneliness. Humans are ritualistic by nature, shared rituals give a deep connectedness, an unspoken understanding, coming together to focus on a singular point (eg a crucifix) stills the mind, communal singing/chanting is extremely beneficial for the parasympathetic nervous system. Creating a tribe that nearly everyone is a part of creates a feeling of mutuality and safety through understanding of boundaries and places within a tribe.
Of course, even my own practice would say many of these things are possible without an organised religion in theory, but my own experience is that where religion is lacking mankind often tries to recreate it in different forms.
My own belief is we are all Christ. Many escoteric Christian’s would also read the Bible in that way. See John 14:20 “At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you.”
I would particularly point you towards the phrase “I am”. This is a reflection of one of the Old Testament names of God Eyheh - I am but also I will be (hebrew doesn’t always have the same idea of tenses). If you tie this into Descartes’ “cogito, ergo sum” - I think therefore I AM, we are probably on the right track to discovering the identity of God. After which most of these things start to make sense. You just have to start questioning who “I “ is, and that I’s role in creation.
My son asked me yesterday whether a nihilist could ever be happy. I asked him what he thought (he’s only 11 so probably not the most nuanced of answers) he said he didn’t think so because what would nihilists ever be aiming towards that meant anything. I thought that summed it up!