Religion and Hate

I seem to have a lot to say about The Ship Who Sang, don't I? Religion in this book is just really sorta whackadoo isn't it?
The crazy cultists on the world that is going to be scorched, yeah really? You are that nutso? Then to top it all off the Mother Superior refuses to be rescued, until one of the young ones runs for the ship. That worked out real well didn't it? Helva lost her mate over it, the man she fell in love with. Oh yay for the religious nut jobs who caused that.

The Dylanists, who aren't really whackadoo at all mind you, but realists who want to preach a message through music. Helva learns about it through her temoprary brawn Kira. She uses it to good effect too-basically killing the High Priest of a murderous cult who has captured them both with the intent to harm. But  Helva instead turns the tables through music and they both escape with the bad guy dead as a result. And a dead BB ship who went insane from the loss of her mate. (there I go again the whole mate thing yeah?)

Maybe the message here is that religion is bad for people? Or is it that religion if used as a tool it's evil? I don't know, but certainly there are worlds in this universe that allow suicide because of their religion. You don't see any religion portrayed in a good way anywhere in this book-except for the Dylanist's and even that religion isn't looked upon favorably is it?

It makes me go hmmm-anyway