To save yourself a safe spot in the afterlife you have to give over some control of your time, money, family connections, and most often some sense of guilt or responsibility to carry the ills of oneself and the world… to a religion.

Religions profess to help you in life now but the ace they hold up their sleeve is they eventually tell you, they hold the key to your spot in the afterlife and it is a secret only they have access to…

Of course, it’s a bit ironic that of the 1000s of religions that have ever existed or do exist, all seem to carry some notion of being ‘the only true path’.

So, to what degree do you have to give over your time, money, family, and emotions to said religion, decides whether or not it is a religion that uses predatory practices or not.

Are you free to give of your own volition or are you constantly pressured for more, is the question. The life of a monastery and servitude does appeal to some and why not.

Children being sent to religious boarding schools at a young age is predatory. Again it’s control of your time, money from the parents, familial connections controlled and the guilt just keeps on being piled on during these formative years.

Peer pressure fundraising is the most common abuse among adult members, though a few end up with exploding vests attached to them.

There are many other examples and most involve draconian rules for women. Or extreme penalties for leaving said religion. In western practice, this can come mostly in the form of shunning by one’s peers but in some parts of the middle east leaving you’re born to religion comes with the death penalty for apostasy.