From my perspective, I find faith in God to be neither oppressive nor cloistering. In fact, I have never felt more free in my life. I am not free from trials or hardship, but rather free from wrath. I can still choose for myself what I will do, but my choices are now predicated on the knowledge that I am no longer a slave to the things that used to rule my life; I am now a servant of Christ. Mind you, I am a flawed and quite fallible servant- sometimes embarrassingly so- but a servant nonetheless.
I think that this is the primary difference between a person who seeks comfort in mere religion and a person who obtains reconciliation with the God of all comfort: The former represents man's effort to reach God; the latter represents man ceasing to struggle with God and at last accept His free gift of grace and peace.
This is of course my perspective; yours may diverge. God, being the ultimate and final judge, will of course have the ultimate and final word.
I celebrate your right to have that feeling. As an American, I believe that all my fellow citizens have the right to choose their own belief systems, whether we're talking about philosophical or political. I roll my eyes over many of the moonbat liberals who want to destroy freedom, but I'm glad that no one is forcing them into a one-party election.
One of the things that makes America great is the tolerance of others maintenance of their belief systems, as long as those beliefs do not impinge on the freedom of others.