I grew up as a hellfire and brimstone southern baptist in SW Texas and Oklahoma so I understand judgment and condemnation and guilt and fear being used to control. Oh do I. I useta lay in my bed at night crying from fear that I was going to hell for thinking about boobies ... and I couldn't get them out of my head. So I get it.

But you still have to discern where you apply that hate when you leave the auspices of your religion. It feels good to just hate them all and you can even make up an all-encompassing reason like 'they all just want to control and manipulate" blah blah. BUT - the truth is they are NOT all the same. Not even close. And your all-encompassing reason likely has limited applications in some cases.

First, gods are not all the same. Some are vengeful judgers on high who arbitrate morality and punish. Others are merely fables for stories. And still others are little more than role models to follow hoping to achieve some virtue. Not all beliefs afford them the same status and/or effect. There are secular beliefs that still have some of those gods (Buddhism in some different SE Asian countries) on a regional level but they aren't deities. Those all-powerful "believe in me or else" gods/beliefs are more a product of western and abrahamic beliefs (Christianity, Islam, Mormon, Scientologists).

Second, in many "religions" morality is more a matter of local culture than the belief set itself. As that culture becomes more or less tolerant - the morality pendulum swings the same. So adjudicating it all as a product of the belief set is inaccurate. Jains, Buddhists, many Hindu dasannas all pretty much limit their harms to hurting others (including animals) and violating local culture. Advaita Vedantists' beliefs actually change with the evolution of the communities around them.

Speaking of that belief set there's also the consideration of canon. While some religions have a articulable canon or text that rigidly defines their contours. Others have an-ever growing set of commentaries that constantly redefine those boundaries and even completely change them as time warrants. While the Hindu's have a religious text in the Rig Veda that was written some 5,500 years ago plus ... the belief uses it as guidance but also follows commentary from holy men written last year or last week. So while some have a rigid set of instructions with little applicability to today - others have guidance that is constantly updated to reflect the times.

NOT all the same. Generalizing them all as one is no different than labeling all asians as bad drivers or all women as flighty. It's especially disconcerting to sit here and read comments about eastern religions from people who obviously havent the foggiest clue what they are about or what their practice actually encompasses. You can't run something down that you don't understand. Well, I take that back. You can but you look like a dumbass. So learn before you leap.