Is religion a necessary evil?

[Dr H]

Try this....though, imagine some completely intolerable religion.  Accept that it might actually be the case that a person needs that religion, just like some criminal needs to commit crime.  Does that make their intolerable religion tolerable?

That seems like stacking the deck, to me.  From the OP, the question at issue is "Is religion a necessary evil?", and not "is the most intolerable religion you can imagine necessary?"

Most people with whom I come in contact practice their religion relatively unobtrusively, most of the time.  Occasionally some overstep their bounds, and try to force their beliefs or their code on others, and that's where I draw the line.  I don't go around proposing laws to force evolution to be taught in theology classes, for example, so in return I don't expect to be forced to teach creationism in biology classes.

There are some particularly egregious religious offenders against that sort of "live-let-live" attitude, for sure -- some violently radical jihadists or the old Thugee cults come to mind.  But that doesn't necessarily taint the whole sphere of religion as "intolerable", anymore than the fact that some atheists are flaming assholes should taint all of atheism.

To me religion is silly, childish, misspent energy, and a waste of time and sometimes resources.  Yet I mostly tolerate it because what are the alternatives?  I could impotently rail daily against the world, or I could go live in a cave and withdraw from the world.  Neither option seems very viable.

If religion ever does end, it will be when we have a mature, fully educated society.
Until that time, some people are always going to feel that it's absolutely essential.  So long as they are willing to tolerate me, I'm willing to tolerate them.  Where we clash, well, that's why there's such a thing as "negotiation".