The Curse of Christianity

Lovely weather for a change - warm sunshine, light cool breeze, and a pleasant day pottering on the allotment.
By lunchtime we were both ready for a rest, and the deckchairs came out by Nosher's shed. Once equipped with a glass of chilled fruit juice from Nosher's solar-powered fridge we were ready to relax.
'I hear that the good Bishop of Rochester is doing his bit for religious harmony yet again' Nosher remarked, tucking into his sandwich.
'Yep' I replied 'he's written a piece for Standpoint magazine in which he claims Christian values can civilise all us heathens, and the Muslims to boot. He dresses it all up to sound very harmless - keep religion out of politics but not out of public life, that sort of thing. But it's the familiar age-old curse of Christianity, and of all organised religions, come to that, rearing its ugly head once again.'
'Do you mean Christianity has a curse, or that it's a curse upon society?' Nosher inquired, sipping innocently on his fruit juice.
'I think all organised societies are cursed, and expecially organised religions' I replied 'by the tendency of ambitious, ruthless and unscrupulous people to use them as vehicles of their own self-aggrandisement. I'm not saying Michael Nazir-Ali is especially ambitious, ruthless or unscrupulous - he may be a very nice man - but publishing material like this simply paves the way for the hard men who wait in the shadows. It's happened so many times in the past that I think we should be very cautious about allowing it to happen again.'
Nosher sighed as if in resignation.
'So what is the actual problem here?' he asked.
'The issue is to do with organised religions creating fault-lines in society' I said 'and interfering in the lives of others by trying to impose their beliefs and practices on everyone. I've no objection to the religious doing charitable work and setting a good example - that should be the only way they are allowed to promote their personal faith - but religions should be explicitly banned from using their political influence in order to get their own way. The state should be totally secular, and organised religions should have no more privileges in law than any other social grouping, for example, youth clubs. That way they can be held in check.'
Nosher sighed again, this time with more resignation.
'Can't see it ever happening' he said 'the only reason organised religions exist is in order to get more privileges for their members - and they'll do that whether it's lawful or not.'
This time it was my turn to sigh in resignation.
'Another hundred years of so of this and we'll be back to the wars of religion' I said. 'Perhaps sooner.'