So many years ago now, I was asked to do an interview about religion. Now I had done some comparative religion studies - talking to people and always eager to visit a new "church" or "mass" - I think in terms of Christian denominations I may have been to them all at this point, even the weird South American ones.
And since it was for my great and long time friend, a hiver himself 
Literal interpretation of some of the parts of the Bible... I think you are missing the point
It was many years ago now, I had thought I did pretty good, but when my friend reached out to me, and shared that he was republishing the videos on a new channel - a youtube channel that was actually getting traction for once! - I wasn't exactly sure what to expect. Would ten years younger me make a fool out of myself? Trying to walk the line with "religion", which everyone knows is a bit of a "hot topic", would I stagger?
Well, you tell me!
I think I did pretty good, and I was especially happy with my conclusion.
We as humans need to be better, and we can be
Beliefs are like programming, and asking about how "true" or "historical" it is, probably is not the right question. What we really want to know is - does the programming "work", work for us as humans. In my opinion, the decisive conclusion of religion is - We need to be better, and we can be.
Are you becoming a better version of yourself today? If not, why not?
Have you identified some or all of the programming that makes your mental life "you"? We are not ideas, ideas are not "ours" and we are constantly changing. Perhaps the most "sticky" part of our existence is the very mental programming we are talking about. And there are a lot of interesting conversations about this happening around AI right now as well. But let's start with what we can control.
Programming matters - whether or not you are aware of it. Whatever you feel about "religion", I would be open to your feedback of how I performed, these so many years ago, in my interview about one of the hottest and trickiest topics in human existence, religion.