Religion is free and personal and doesn’t require a church or any clergy.
Well, why did Jesus Christ found a Church?
And I say to thee: That thou art Peter; and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
[Matthew 16:18]
Actually, that would be *forgiveness* but I get what you are saying.
The weird thing is no one would ever say that about calculus, physics, biology, or even philosophy. They are all fields of study with a history of collective knowledge, building upon key works and especially, great minds who helped increase our knowledge of these fields. "Hey - here's a calculus book, you don't need a teacher - now go figure it out yourself!" Said no one, ever.
Yet people will do this for Christianity.
“Religion is free and personal and doesn’t require a church or any clergy.”
Might be applicable if all humans were born as adults and with associated full knowledge as an adult. Under your nonsensical premise, I can easily see the creation of millions of religions, all slightly different than another, and conflicting, but eventually coagulating into “churches” with clergy, anyway.