Religions are formed in order to facilitate gaining of spiritual wisdom through various practices. All religions highlight that we are spiritual beings and it is possible to realize our higher nature.
Whatever religion is chosen, the purpose is to progress on our spiritual path and finally to realize the unity in creation. However it is ironic that the same religions which teach about unifying nature of creation also separate people using the same religious concepts.
Another problem with religion relates to rituals prescribed. Any religion is formed based on the needs of people and accordingly rituals are formed. Rituals are tools to facilitate higher understanding. However rituals themselves can not make us spiritual. For example, a daily reading of religious or spiritual text can help us understand the spiritual concepts better but if we force ourselves to do such reading as a compulsion, it does not help. Unfortunately, most people tend to follow rituals as compulsory practices rather than understand the spirit behind them. In fact, even the religious readers encourage blind tenacity to rituals considering it as a measure of loyalty to their religion.
While religion can help us gain spiritual progress, we need to put effort to understand the true meaning of practices instead of following them superficially.
