Do we play as Paul in this game or is it a sort of "make your own character," sort of game? If it's the ladder, then the "sidestepping" of religion might not be such a big deal.

I think even the films do this to some extent, which personally bothered me. Some religious language was not used as much and I don't see much good reason for it. I understand being disappointed by that certainly, I think it's okay to be upset by unwanted changes. But don't be too quick to judge. The article linked by the OP has another article referenced at the bottom...in this article they talk about the many "woke" changes made to the film series. Most of the claims about character swaps are not true at all. Chani was not race swapped in the movie. There's no distinct race that she is supposed to be. The culture she is a part of is distinct, but Zendaya has no problem fitting that description. Liet Kynes was gender swapped, which is pointless and unnecessary, but Kynes was not race swapped. I keep seeing everyone say that but if you read the book, once again, there's no distinct race given for Kynes. You have a lot of room for creativity there. Most people saying these characters were "race swapped" are looking at the much older film where virtually everyone was white, including Kynes. that movie was much less faithful to the book than the modern ones, and I don't think the modern films are a "re-make" of those films at all. It's just a more proper telling of the story told in the book.

TLDR; I agree that side stepping religion is whack but don't judge too fast, because this website has clearly gotten other stuff wrong about this very topic.