Even though there are great people like the Litvak sages, e.g. Rav Kinyevsky and others that are devoted to Torah for its own sake, still the religious world is a sort of nightmare. That is to say that some are sincerely devoted to serving God, still the general group character is a  kind of problem. There is a sort of attempt to present themselves as righteous as a group. This is obvious. Yet the fact is there are very few that are in fact like Rav Kinyevsky. The majority are just regular mammals. Not particularly good.

For a test run one ought to spend one day living in Mea Shearim and then see how all the love bombing is all a façade. I can think of no worse nightmare than the religious being in control.. And I know this from the experience of many, many people who have experienced what the religious world is really like minus all the pretense.

What is however true and great is the holy Torah, and that is in fact important. But the religious themselves are the in the business of using the appearance of keeping rituals of Torah to make money and gain power. They are as righteous as a Venus fly trap.

[If you are young and naïve there is a lot of effort spent on trapping you into a net in which there is no escape. But the reality is the religious world is a Kafkian nightmare. I hope than when I discuss the importance of learning and keeping Torah , that I do not sound as if I am giving any sort of approval of the religious world which is the opposite of Torah.]