Has any religion at any time done more good than harm? Been more a force for general well-being, survival, improvement of the lives of large numbers of people, than a motivator of oppression and war?
(The question is not concerned with individuals’ good deeds done in the name of a religion.)
Could there be a good religion? Or is it in the nature of religion (being irrational) always to be harmful?
That’s a hard question, because religion, from its beginnings, intertwined itself with the development of civilization so thoroughly that it basically became conflated with it.
It was early on a deliberate deception of the masses for the sake of power, first by pagan priests, then the Jews borrowed myths from the Egyptians, Christians from pagans and Jews. Once they gained power they became oppressive.
Then Islam, whos founder borrowed from both Christianity and Judaism, all for the sake of amassing his own power, started out as oppressive, and hasn’t let up since.
Meanwhile over in Africa they’re still cannibalizing children for Mutu magic.
So yes, I’d say that given any degree of power, all religions become tools of oppression.