Religion provides a grounding tool for individuals as they navigate their lives. It gives individuals a purpose and a meaning for life when it seems like there isn’t one, and it gives people a spreadsheet of how to handle daily interactions. Anything that involves morals or understanding right vs wrong, religion gives a clear cut definition that assists with these conversations and eliminates the amount of debates that may be had on the subject. All of that to say, I think that religion is a step in the right direction in terms of defeating a dystopia, but I don’t think it’s the end all be all to defeating dystopias. It does cancel out a lot of the dystopian elements, like the sense of individuality and the need to conform, because at that point you don’t conform to anyone but the religion you believe in. Social constructs no longer have the hold over you that they had previously. However, governmental control will still exist, and religion unfortunately doesn’t cut that.
That’s not to say that I still don’t believe religion has potential to influence those in power or that it’s not powerful enough to have a meaningful influence over the masses, but religion is not all-powerful or controlling in a sense that makes it necessary. There are aspects of religion that may be instrumental in fighting oppression; the strong wills that develop within religious people as well as their commitment to their beliefs will often give them the motivation to act against oppression in whatever ways they are able to. These, however, almost like religion itself are merely possible options to aid in dealing with the issue that is oppression. Though religion itself is more grand, in this context, it functions more like a tool that may be used if it is fit for its specific job. So in some situations, religion may be the perfect solution to deal with oppression, but that does not make it necessary to do so.
