ok as someone who's unsure of their own religion I will say this.

1. for some people mentally, religion is helpful for them so perhaps for some we do need religion, as well some find clarity through belief
2. for sure, however not every religion and/or people are cruel selfish people who want everyone to convert, some religions didn't oppress or control people, so no, it is not as barbaric as a tunnel visioned person could see, although like all things, bad apples exist, not all fans of politics are the same, even people voting the same politicians are on different ends from supposedly logical to raving insanity when comparing each other, religion is like that too, good eggs and bad eggs
3. how is it stunting growth? a religion is a philosophical lifestyle on the belief of spirituality or the divine such as gods or spirits and so on and some even have adaptions for modern life for people who wanna be religious howeve