"Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people." Karl Marx 1844.

The only comfort that religion gives is the false promise of life after death. If a person realizes that life after death does not exist, all need for religion is obviated.

IMO some forms of religion are perfectly rational and benign.

I have very few issues with religion as long as it remains a personal belief system and stays out of the public sphere. As the Dalai Lama has aptly stated: “The very purpose of religion is to control yourself, not to criticize others. Rather, we must criticize ourselves. How much am I doing about my anger? About my attachment, about my hatred, about my pride, my jealousy? These are the things which we must check in daily life.”

I never really got any emotional comfort from it. Too many weird rules and confusing mandates from a bewildering deity. And since nobody can agree on the rules, it just made me anxious that I wasn't doing it right.
I still have a lot of emotional distress, and ironically, it's still because of religion. These evangelicals and their political influence makes living in American stressful.

Religion gives us fantastic hats. What great hats has science ever given us, I mean besides that one that holds the beer cans.