You think THAT's bad, you should see the nifty combination of religion and government.
Perhaps we can find some common ground with "Both theocracy and secular government have been used to exploit men." IMO the church has lost most of the power it had over our lives since the time of Tomas de Torquemada 600 years ago. I have read about governments religious persecution of religion through Stalin communism, Hitler's final solution, and the thought reform of China's CCP just 50 years ago.
Over the last 50 years I have seen US legislation and policy infringe on the freedom of religion to an unhealthy extent. Today too many people believe the the 1st ammendment means freedom from religion.
"When fearful martyrdom came to our people in the decade of Nazi terror the voice of the Pope was raised for the victims." - Golda Meir