Yes, religion is a drug, but what type of drug?

[God of Mr. Hanky]

It is helpful for many, benign for most, and harmful for a few.  But, what type of drug is it?  Marijuana, caffeine, cocaine, etc.?

Theism is neither helpful nor benign for anyone. If it comforts its followers, well so does heroin its users. It's delusionary thinking which is passed down through the generations by the practice of fundamentally dishonest brainwashing of pre-reasoning children who are helpless when so taught said ideas to reject them as the lies which they are, and they would invariably do just that if such dope was first presented to them at post-pubescence.

What's particularly harmful about religion is the way it encourages ignorance. Other groups aren't different, they are "sinners", therefore bigots will always find friends in churches. You aren't responsible for your impact on the environment which your grandchildren will inherit, just ignore the warnings of those "sciencists" and our god will tak care of it all! If you live your life as a complete drudge, well maybe that's god's plan for you - just obey, and you will find an eternal reward at the end of your life. Don't ask questions, your doubts are just Satan whispering in your ear - just trust and OBEY!! TRUST me!  

Theism may not cause all children to languish from helicopter helot homeschooling parents who cover their eyes and fill their heads so full of cruel insidious lies that they have no hope of making it anywhere in the world outside of their vicious web, nor does it cause millions of children to be denied proper health care by pathologically prayer-obsessed parents, but this does not make it benign. Fundamentally, the Christian faith teaches children that they are born sinful by nature, and that is simply a disgusting cruel insult to human dignity and childhood self-esteem. It's 180 degrees away from the truthful observation that our accidental, non-supernatural and undesigned nature makes perfection impossible, that we are not born wise, therefore much of our learning must come from our mistakes! To err is not to "sin", it is not something which we are dirty with, but this is exactly the sort of cruel shit which is taught in every single Xtian church and Sunday school, evangelical or not.

Theism of the Xtian brand teaches women that they are to some extent lesser than men. With the exception of the Methodist church, which has it's own interesting brands of weirdness, women don't lead in churches, and they are encouraged to produce lots of babies. Of course lots of churchgoing moms run corporate business organizations, but those who don't have children are easily targets of ostracism - misogyny is what religion does best! Women are not encouraged in any churches to have their own agenda with their own bodies, therefore they are bullied into carrying unwanted pregnancies to term, resulting in way too many unhappy families led (or not) by people who live with broken dreams, often resulting in child abuse, but invariably populating our world with more unhappy people who are far more likely to turn to crime than we would have seen if only Mom had the good sense to ignore church doctrine and use contraception.

The simple device called the condom is something which is denied all Catholic believers, and its disuse is the reason why so many devastating, and often deadly diseases are spreading around the world.

No, religion is not in any way harmless, nor is it truly beneficial, it is only destructive. It may be destructive like alcohol is for most, while at worst it's like heroin, but it's never anything good. It's for the above reasons that I am anti-theist. I don't hate the user, I hate the drug, and theistic religion is a nasty one!