Religion is a special relationship between human and God. No one has the right to interfere, limit or direct another’s belief. Likewise, no one has the right to consider their own belief superior to that of another.
The common reason people believe in religions is that they believe that God is real and that people can communicate with him and perceive his effects on the workings of the world.
Religions and beliefs are the most important elements that make up the culture of a society or nation. Being a member of this or that religion in modern life has eliminated the chance of being privileged from others due to intercultural permeability. The consensus or conflict of cultures rather than beliefs means that it opens a new door to explain the principle of secularism. Because believing in a religion is a process that happens in one’s own inner world at the ultimate point.
When religion first meets people, it appears to touch life as a liberating force. In the following process, religion loses its liberating dynamics and turns into a tool of domination through institutional structures. Religion, whose reason for existence has disappeared and which is hostile to the ideals it should realize, has outlived its time. This is the main motive behind the arrival of the new religion in order to purify the religious legacy left by its predecessors.
The first act of religion as a liberating force is to consider all people equal regardless of their racial differences. The first rejection of all discrimination and enslavement on the basis of race is the egalitarian policy of Islam.
I think the answer to whether religion liberates or enslaves people depends on how you understand religion, that is, from person to person.
As a result, in my opinion, people who believe in a certain religion are barred from their freedom in the face of strict rules, that is, they are enslaved. Of course, since this is their choice, there is no question of confusion. Those who do not belong to a religion upon request and are forced by their environment are seriously trapped in their beliefs and need help.